Cooperative manipulation experiments using a dual-arm robot

Cooperating manipulators in dual-arm robots generally have more actuator resources than freedom of motion, or an excess of actuator inputs. Redundancy in the drivability provides opportunity for resource allocation. Decision-making criteria are used to make effective use of dual-arm robotic system resources, as well as to enhance performance. System equations of a dual-arm robot performing cooperative operations are provided. Selected operations are described in terms of example application, decision-making criteria, and description of experimental procedures used to investigate control for cooperative manipulation. Included in the dual-arm robotic system test-bed are the fixtures for experiments and a fully anthropomorphic, dual-arm robot.