Dynamic capture of free-moving objects

A new stiffness control method is proposed for robotic systems to capture free-moving objects with minimum jerk. A bell-shaped stiffness curve is shown to minimize the jerk that occurs during capture tasks. The results verify that the method can be used to successfully decelerate objects over a predefined distance, while keeping the jerk experienced during the capture within limits. Shortcomings with the method are identified from the results, and an adaptive control scheme is proposed. An adaptive controller is designed to actively interact with the object to estimate the kinetic energy during the capture and scale the amount of force being applied accordingly. Simulation results confirm that the adaptive control scheme overcomes the shortcomings in previous methods. © 2011 Author.