A Novel Approach to the Robotic Automation of Industrial Contact Processes: Comparison with Classical Force Control Methods

In this work we present a pneumatic attachment for industrial robots that is meant to enable the efficient automation of contact processes. The element is controlled, allowing variation of the applied contact force. The actuation takes place close to the location of the applied process force. This decoupling potentially results in a higher control quality compared to the case where the distributed joints of a robot arm are used for actuation. At the same time the passive compliance of the pneumatic actuation provides a degree of robustness that reduces the time required to establish contact with a stiff work piece – i.e. it speeds up the transition between free and contact motion. Differences and similarities with respect to classical robotic force control methods are discussed and extensive experimental comparisons are presented.