DUAL ARM COLLISION AVOIDANCE ALGORITHM

THE CHALLENGE OF MAKING MULTIPLE ROBOTIC ARM SYSTEMS WORK SYNCHRONOUSLY IN A COMMON WORKSPACE IS SIGNIFICANT. CONTROLISSUES YET TO BE RESOLVED INCLUDE COLLISION AVOIDANCE, FORCECOMPENSATION FOR DYNAMIC FORCES INDUCED ON THE PAYLOAD THAT IS SHARED BY THE ARMS, AND COOPERATIVE MANIPULATION OF A PAYLOAD. ODETICS PROPOSES TO UNDERTAKE THE DEFINITION, DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING OF AN ALGORITHM WHICH WILL USE THE JOINT DISPLACEMENTS FROM TWO ROBOTIC MANIPULATORS, MOVING IN THE SAME WORKSPACE, TO DETERMINE WHEN COLLISIONS ARE IMMINENT. THIS WILL ENABLE THE MANIPULATORS TO SLOW DOWN OR STOP BEFORE A COLLISION OCCURS. THE COLLISION AVOIDANCE ALGORITHM WILL CONSIST OF TWO SUBSIDIARY ALGORITHMS: THE COLLISION FEASIBILITY ALGORITHM AND THE COLLISION DETECTION ALGORITHM. THE PROPOSED TECHNIQUE IS INNOVATIVE BECAUSE THE COLLISION AVOIDANCE CALCULATIONS ARE COMPUTATIONALLY SIMPLE, PERMITTING RAPID EXECUTION AND ALLOWING REAL-TIME OPERATION.