MOTION CONTROL OF 7-DOF ARMS - THE CONFIGURATION CONTROL APPROACH

Graphics simulation and real-time implementation of configuration cont rol schemes for a redundant 7-DOF Robotics Research arm are described. The arm kinematics and motion control schemes are described briefly. This is then followed by a description of a graphics simulation enviro nment for 7-DOF arm control on the Silicon Graphics IRIS Workstation. Computer simulation results are presented to demonstrate elbow control , collision avoidance, and optimal joint movement as redundancy resolu tion goals for the 7-DOF arm. The laboratory setup for experimental va lidation of motion control of the 7-DOF Robotics Research arm is then described. The configuration control approach is implemented on a Moto rola 68020/VME bus-based real-time controller, with elbow positioning for redundancy resolution. Experimental results demonstrate the effica cy of configuration control for real-time control of the 7-DOF arm.