Intuitive Hand Guidance of a Force-Controlled Sensitive Mobile Manipulator

The demand for a highly flexible and adaptable industrial infrastructure has gained importance due to increasing product variability, small batch sizes and the need for cost-effective production. Moving from fixed production lines towards mobile manipulation with the possibility for fast and easy reprogramming could provide a solution for these challenges. The ambitious goal of completely programming robot systems without a single line of code is being addressed in this work. More specifically, we present an efficient and natural approach for programming sensitive mobile manipulators through hand guidance using a force torque-sensor that is mounted close to the end effector. The proposed control strategy is explained in detail and results of conducted laboratory tests are presented.