Development of ^|^ldquo;KUWAEBACHI^|^rdquo; Robot via Visual Feedback Robust Control

Abstract

This paper reports the development of a street performance robot “DKG-MS1” which mimics Japanese traditional juggling “KUWAEBACHI”. In this performance, an entertainer holds a drumstick in his/her mouth and then balances an object like a ball or a teapot on it with great concentration. Regarding this trick as a kind of visual feedback control by human, we create a robot having a rotating arm with a USB camera. To compensate the delay in the visual sensing system and the uncertainties in terms of the balancing object, we design a feedback controller based on the sampled-data H∞ control theory. The performance of our robot is illustrated with experimental data.