Arm Manipulation Planning of Tethered Tools with the Help of a Tool Balancer
This addresses safety and efficiency issues in manufacturing cells where robots handle tethered tools, though it appears incremental.
The paper tackles robotic manipulation of tethered tools suspended by tool balancers, which can cause cable strain and arm entanglements, by developing a manipulation planner with cable orientation constraints that reduces entanglements and joint torque, as shown in simulation and real-world experiments.
Robotic manipulation of tethered tools is widely seen in robotic work cells. They may cause excess strain on the tool's cable or undesired entanglements with the robot's arms. This paper presents a manipulation planner with cable orientation constraints for tethered tools suspended by tool balancers. The planner uses orientation constraints to limit the bending of the balancer's cable while the robot manipulates a tool and places it in a desired pose. The constraints reduce entanglements and decrease the torque induced by the cable on the robot joints. Simulation and real-world experiments show that the constrained planner can successfully plan robot motions for the manipulation of suspended tethered tools preventing the robot from damaging the cable or getting its arms entangled, potentially avoiding accidents. The planner is expected to play promising roles in manufacturing cells.