Damping variation through electrohydraulic servosystem: An application to active impedance control

In the field of robotic control, impedance control is seen as an efficient method of position and force control during operations where there is a dynamic interaction between the robot and the environment. An impedance control strategy using an electrohydraulic servosystem for such tasks is described. The impedance of the robotic manipulator is varied by varying the damping in the hydraulic servosystem appended to the manipulator, which acts as a controller in the physical domain. Theoretical and experimental investigations carried out on a typical system are described. Bond graph as well as block diagram approaches are used for analysis of the system. Copyright © 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.