Open source real-time control software for the Kuka light weight robot

The Kuka light weight robot offers unique features to researchers. Besides its 7 Degrees of Freedom (DOF), also torque sensing in every joint and a variety of compliance modes make the robot a good choice for robotic research. Unfortunately the interface to control the robot externally has its restrictions. In this paper, we present an open source solution (OpenKC) that will allow the control of the robot externally using a simple set of routines that can easily be integrated in existing software. All features and modes of the Kuka light weight robot can be used and triggered externally. Simultaneous control of several robots is explicitly supported. The software has proven its use in several applications.

[1]  John Lloyd,et al.  Extending the RCCL programming environment to multiple robots and processors , 1988, Proceedings. 1988 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[2]  Michael Pardowitz,et al.  Handling of Deformable Material Using Tactile Sensors in a Bi-manual Scenario , 2009, Humanoids 2009.

[3]  Tsuneo Yoshikawa,et al.  Manipulability of Robotic Mechanisms , 1985 .

[4]  Alin Albu-Schäffer,et al.  DLR's torque-controlled light weight robot III-are we reaching the technological limits now? , 2002, Proceedings 2002 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.02CH37292).

[5]  Alin Albu-Schäffer,et al.  Parameter identification and passivity based joint control for a 7 DOF torque controlled light weight robot , 2001, Proceedings 2001 ICRA. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.01CH37164).

[6]  Roderic A. Grupen,et al.  A Framework for the Development of Robot Behavior , 2005 .

[7]  Corporate Ieee,et al.  Information Technology-Portable Operating System Interface , 1990 .

[8]  Carsten Schürmann,et al.  Modular high speed tactile sensor system with video interface , 2009, Humanoids 2009.

[9]  Helge Ritter,et al.  Evaluation of Tactile Features for Object Categorization , 2009, Humanoids 2009.

[10]  Roderic A. Grupen,et al.  Learning to Coordinate Controllers - Reinforcement Learning on a Control Basis , 1997, IJCAI.

[11]  Mike Parker,et al.  Real Time Control Under UNIX for RCCL , 1996 .