Robust, Locally Guided Peg-in-Hole using Impedance-Controlled Robots

Abstract

We present an approach for the autonomous, robust execution of peg-in-hole assembly tasks. We build on a sampling-based state estimation framework, in which samples are weighted according to their consistency with the position and joint torque measurements. The key idea is to reuse these samples in a motion generation step, where they are assigned a second task-specific weight. The algorithm thereby guides the peg towards the goal along the configuration space. An advantage of the approach is that the user only needs to provide: the geometry of the objects as mesh data, as well as a rough estimate of the object poses in the workspace, and a desired goal state. Another advantage is that the local, online nature of our algorithm leads to robust behavior under uncertainty. The approach is validated in the case of our robotic setup and under varying uncertainties for the classical peg-in-hole problem subject to two different geometries.