On-line collision avoidance system for two PTP command-based manipulators with distributed controller

Abstract

This research aims to solve online collision avoidance problem of two manipulators with independent controller. Since industrial robot controller is a closed commercial system, trajectory generation part of robot controlling is always proprietary or unknown. Thus, this paper proposes a collision avoidance system of two manipulators which are controlled by point-to-point (PTP) commands, in condition that the internal of robot controller is unknown and unchangeable. Based on this condition, collision avoidance is supposed to be realized by online scheduling of these PTP controlling commands. This paper proposes the collision avoidance method that assumes the three-dimensional common workspace between two manipulators can be partitioned into many subregion elements. And with managing these subregion elements, which are occupied by robot motion, PTP commands are scheduled to adjust execution timing for collision avoidance. A deadlock problem caused by the partition of the workspace is also taken into consideration in the method. And the effectiveness and efficiency of the method have been verified by simulations and experiments.