Fast Stiffness Estimation using Acceleration-based Impedance Control and its Application to Bilateral Control

Abstract

Communication delay between a master and a slave robot destabilizes a bilateral control system. Recent researches showed that an adaptive controller that dynamically determines the master’s controller gain according to the stiffness of the contact object is effective in improving stability. As the stability depends on the convergence speed of the estimated stiffness, this paper utilizes an acceleration-based impedance control for fast stiffness estimation. The validity of the proposed estimation method is verified by simulations. The convergence speed of the estimated stiffness is improved, and the control performance of bilateral control is improved accordingly.