Compliant motion control of manipulator/vehicle system floating on the water

Abstract

This paper discusses the control issues of the manipulator/vehicle systems floating on the water and proposes a compliant motion control algorithm. The manipulator/vehicle system floating on the water consists of a vehicle and a manipulator attached to it. The system on the water is not fixed to the inertial coordinate system like space manipulators. The external forces caused by the interactions between the manipulator and its environments affect the motion of the system and the interactions of motions among the vehicle, the manipulator and the water cause vibration of the system. In this paper, we propose a control algorithm, which simultaneously controls both the endpoint compliant motion of the manipulator and the position/orientation of the vehicle using thrusters attached to the vehicle. First, we derive the equation, which describes the dynamic relation between the system and the external forces/moments applied to it, then propose a simultaneous control algorithm of the manipulator endpoint compliant motion and the position/orientation of the vehicle. Simulation results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm.