Several consistent solutions for cooperative system control have
recently been identified by the authors of the current monograph. This
was achieved by solving three separate tasks that are essential for
solving the problem of cooperative manipulation as a whole. The first
task is related to the understanding of the physical nature of
cooperative manipulation and finding a way for a sufficiently exact
characterization of cooperative system statics, kinematics and dynamics.
After successfully completing this task, in the frame of the second
task, the problem of coordinated motion of the cooperative system is
solved. Finally, as a solution to the third task, the control laws of
cooperative manipulation are synthesized.
The starting point in dealing with the above three tasks of cooperative
manipulation was the assumption that the problem of force uncertainty in
cooperative manipulation can be resolved by introducing elastic
properties into the cooperative system, at least in the part where force
uncertainty appears. In static and dynamic analysis of the elastic
structure of cooperative systems the finite element method is applied.
In contrast to the procedure used in the major part of the available
literature where deformation work is expressed by deviations from the
unloaded state of fixed elastic structure, in this monograph the
deformation work is expressed by internal forces as a function of the
absolute coordinates of contacts of mobile elastic structure.
Coordinated motion and control in cooperative manipulation are solved as
the problem of coordinated motion and control of a mobile elastic
structure, taking into account the specific features of cooperative
manipulation. Coordinated motion and control laws in cooperative
manipulation are synthesized on the basis of a non-linear model where
the problem of uncertainty is solved, which is not the case in the
available literature. Simple examples demonstrate the consistent
procedure of mathematical modeling and synthesis of nominal coordinated
motion, as well as control of the cooperative system.
This book will be useful to a wide audience of engineers, ranging from
undergraduate and graduate students, new and advanced academic
researchers, to practitioners (mechanical and electrical engineers,
computer and system scientists). It is intended for readers whose work
involves manufacturing, industrial, robotics, automation, computer and
control engineering, and who wish to find out about this important new
technology and its potential advantages for control engineering
applications.
