US-Italy Cooperative Research: Multiple Robot Control

University Of New Mexico, Albuquerque NM

Investigators

Abstract

0406519 Lumia This two-year award supports US-Italy cooperative research in multiple robot arm force/impedance control and visual servoing involving Ron Lumia, University of New Mexico, and Dr. Bruno Sicialiano at the University of Naples, Italy. The objective of the research is to explore visual servoing and force/impedance control on a single robot and to expand the results to multiple robots. The project takes advantage of the complementary capabilities of the two laboratories. The University of Naples (PRISMA lab) has a fast real time control system for its two Comau robots. The University of New Mexico (UNM) has developed fast visual servoing algorithms. The use of the PRISMA system will allow the exercise of the UNM algorithms and measure performance effectively. The collaboration will combine fast robot control with very fast sensory processing for dual robot applications. This will advance the theory of dual robot control and experimentally verify the results. The results of the research will develop insight into active vision based feedback control for single robots and dual robot configurations demonstrate UNM's active vision system software used as object position feedback in single and dual arm robots, and develop new theory for controlling robots that simplifies the dynamic equations of motion. The results will have implications for manufacturing and all advanced robotic applications in which robots must rapidly assembly objects.