Hindawi Publishing Corporation

Journal of Robotics
Volume 2009, Article ID 214154, 8 pages
doi:10.1155/2009/214154

Research Article
Collaborative Assembly Operation between Two Modular Robots
Based on the Optical Position Feedback

Liying Su,1 Lei Shi,2 and Yueqing Yu1

1 College of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100022, China
2 Southwest University of Science and Technology, MianYang 621010, China

Correspondence should be addressed to Liying Su, sly@bjut.edu.cn

Received 12 May 2009; Revised 3 October 2009; Accepted 26 October 2009

Recommended by Simon X. Yang

This paper studies the cooperation between two master-slave modular robots. A cooperative robot system is set up with two
modular robots and a dynamic optical meter-Optotrak. With Optotrak, the positions of the end effectors are measured as the
optical position feedback, which is used to adjust the robots’ end positions. A tri-layered motion controller is designed for the two
cooperative robots. The RMRC control method is adopted to adjust the master robot to the desired position. With the kinematics
constraints of the two robots including position and pose, joint velocity, and acceleration constraints, the two robots can cooperate
well. A bolt and nut assembly experiment is executed to verify the methods.

Copyright © 2009 Liying Su et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

1. Introduction
In many robotic tasks such as catching irregular objects,
assembling complex works and carrying large-scaled objects,
a single robot cannot satisfy the requirements. In some
operations, dual-arms or multiple robot manipulators are
needed to complete the operation by coordination. Firstly,
the complex tasks that are difficult to complete for a single
robot are expected to be undertaken by multiple robots in
a collaborative fashion. Secondly, the work efficiency of the
robot system can be improved due to the collaboration.
Furthermore, even if the robot work environment changes
or the robot system has partial malfunctions, the multirobot
system can still finish the scheduled task through the intrinsic
coordination relation among the system members. The mul-
tirobot system composed of two or more robots has attracted
tremendous interest and attention. A pair or multiple robot
system has the following characteristics which distinguish
it from the operation of a single robot: (1) when the pair
or multiple robots engage in carriage, assembly, cutting, or
sawing operations, the two robots and the operated object
will form a closed motion chain. The motion or kinematics
of the two robot arms must satisfy a group of movement
restrictions. Thus, the kinematics of the two coordinated
robots is more complicated than that of a single robot.
(2) The dynamics of the two coordinated arm robots is more
complicated than the single-arm robot. Though the two
equations of dynamics of the two collaborated arm robots
can be combined into one unitary dynamics equation, the
problem does not become easier. The equation dimension
increases and internal force will be introduced. (3) The con-
trol structure for the two-arm robots get more complicated
than the single-arm robot. Since the two-arm robots face the
same operation task, the corresponding control cannot be
carried out solely as for the single-arm robot. In comparison
with the control of a single-arm robot, the controller for
the two-arm robots has multilayered hierarchical structure.
Luh and Zheng [1, 2] studied the motion and kinematics
restrictions of the two-arm robot cooperation and pro-
posed the master/slave position-to-position collaboration
control strategy based on the rigid body restriction relation
when grasping. Furthermore, Zheng and Luh [3] studied the
restriction relationship of two collaborating rigid robots
when grasping a plier, and deduced the position, pose and
velocity restrictions. Uchiyama et al. [4] introduced the
position/force control policy into the dual robots’ control.
They analyzed the kinematics and statics of the two-arm
robots under position/force control and completed the
collaboration control of the two 4-DOF B-HAND robots.
Kopf and Yabuta [5] compared the master/slave control
2 Journal of Robotics
policy with the position/force control policy experimentally.
Tarn et al. [6] proposed the dynamics control methods for
dual-arm collaboration and studied the dynamics equations
of the dual-arm robot when operating an object. In [7],
a force control strategy was presented for the cooperation
of two robots. At the same time, the problem of position
accuracy in robot cooperation is mentioned. It is assumed
that all the joint variables are the mid values between the
upper and lower limits of joint angles. That means that
the end manipulator position is not accurate enough. In
[8], two cooperative redundant manipulators were struc-
tured as a new single redundant manipulator by using the
relative Jacobian. In that research, a force/torque sensing
model, using an approximated penetration depth calculation
algorithm, is developed and used to compute a contact
force/torque in the graphic assembly simulation. Using the
potential function method, each joint trajectory is generated
within the joint limit. So the end effectors’ position is not
accurate because of the feedback method. Dauchez et al.
[9] tried to extend the hybrid position/force control of
robot manipulators to assembly tasks by humanoid arm
manipulators. He proposed the question of keeping the
workspace visible to be completed.
Zhao et al. [10] studied the 3-dimensional motion
restriction of the two-arm robots. They implemented the
collision avoidance track planning of the two-arms by
constructing a collision belief map using the path and track
knowledge of the two robots. Guo et al. [11] presented the
dynamic control method of coordinated operation for a
team of free-flying space robots (FFSRs) in a micro-gravity
environment of space based on reproducing the kernel
theory. They completed the dynamic control of multiFFSR
coordinated operation using dynamic equation of multiFFSR
coordinated operation based on the reproducing kernel
theory. In [12, 13] multiple robot manipulators cooperate
to assembly by communication through network. In the
test bed, a sensing robot was mounted on the vibrated
environment measures relative position and orientation of
the flexible beam and the sensed information can be shared
by the other two ground robots in the cooperative assembly.
They demonstrated algorithms for the visual servo in the
wide area with motion prediction using cooperative robots
on the ground testbed.
In [14], hybrid kinematics machines combining both
parallel and serial kinematics machines were adopted in
cooperative assembly. In that work, the positional controller
is based on a Cartesian space PID algorithm with gravity
compensation. An impedance controller compensates the
positional and orientation errors and turns the interaction
control into a problem of positional control. The idea
was verified in simulation. Hirata et al. [15] proposed a
decentralized motion control algorithm of multiple mobile
manipulators for handling a single object in cooperation
with a human without using the geometric relations among
robots. With the algorithm, each mobile manipulator could
handle the object based on an intentional force/moment
applied by a human. Zhao et al. [16] established the
dynamics between object space and joint space in terms of
object dynamic, individual-arm dynamics and joint driving
torques as multiple manipulators handle a single object. Li
and Chen [17] considered multiple mobile manipulators
grasping a rigid object in contact with deformable working
surfaces, whose geometric and physical model is unknown.
Adaptive neuro-fuzzy (NF) control for coordinated mobile
manipulators is proposed for robust force/motion tracking
on the constraint surface while it is in motion. In [18] a
neural network algorithm was employed to control a five-
joint pneumatic robot arm and gripper through feedback
from two video cameras. It showed that feedback from the
cameras is enough to control the position with desirable
accuracy. The disadvantage is that the accuracy will be
limited by the cameras’ resolution and the learning time is
not short enough for Real-time operation. Hartman [19]
studied the real-time or near real-time monitoring of manip-
ulator motion to detect and prevent potential collisions by
reserving space ahead of each link in the system. Park et al.
[20] introduced a vision/camera system to recognize the
position and orientation of the robot manipulators for the
assembly job. In [21] an open architecture for real-time
sensory feedback control of a dual-arm industrial robotic cell
has been described. It proposed the possibility of using vision
and other sensory feedback control, but no vision-based
position or force feedback is shown in physical experiment.
Most of the work on collaborative robots is focused
on the kinematics and control policy. How to feed back
the robots’ position or force precisely and so to design an
effective collaboration policy is important for the task. While
in conventional systems this feedback is usually in the form
of joint angle information obtained from rotary encoders
fixed to the joints, we adopt an optical meter to measure
the end effecter position as the direct feedback for the
cooperative robots. In this paper, a closed-loop collaborating
system is built. The system comprises of two modular
robots and a dynamic optical meter named Optotrak. The
optical information obtained from the Optotrak will work as
feedback for the robots’ operation. Compared with camera,
the advantage of using Optotrak is that the robot end
position can be determined and feedback directly so that
Real-time control is possible.
The collaboration of a pair of arm robots can be classified
into object mode and master/slave mode. In the object mode,
the grasped object assumes the dominant role. Then the
pose matrix of the two grabbers can be obtained according
to the restriction relationship between the object and the
two grabbers. And the joint parameters can be obtained
by solving the inverse kinematics equations. In the object
mode, the two robots have equal importance and work in
a consorted fashion. In the master/slave mode, one robot is
assigned the role of master and the other robot is the slave.
The motion of the slave robot can be deduced from the
master robot motion according to the cooperation relation
between the two robots.
Real-time control is necessary for the pair of arm
robots in the operation, and the stable coordination relation
between the two robots is expected to hold at all times. To do
that, the master/slave mode is adopted for the cooperation
of the two robots in the experiment. One robot acts as the
master arm and the other acts as the slave one. During
Journal of Robotics 3

Optotrak control Robot control T1 z x

T2
computer Optotrak 3020
computer z
x y
y
Control
cabinet

v1 θ v2

PowerCube
modular robot z z
x
O1
y y O2
x

Figure 2: The sketch map for cooperative modular robots.

Figure 1: The system configuration of the cooperative modular

robot system. coordinate system origin of its end executor. O2 represents
the base coordinate system origin of the master robot, and
T2 represents the base coordinate system origin of its end
the Real-time control of the two robots cooperation, when executor. θ is the angle vector of T1 rotating around ZT2 (Z
the desired motion of the master arm robot is modified due coordinate in coordinate system T2 ) and r is the position
to the need to avoid collision, the motion of the slave arm vector of T1 under the coordinate system T2 . q1 and q2 are
robot must be modified accordingly in Real-time lest that the joint variables of the master and slave robots separately.
the coordination motion of the two robots be destroyed. In Using the base coordination of the master arm as the
the master/slave mode, the coordination relations of the joint reference coordination of the whole system, the kinematics
positions and the joint velocities are built for the master formula of the master and slave arm ends under the reference
and slave robots according to the two robots kinematics coordination system is as follows:
relationship. The coordination relations are established by a O2 O2 O1 O2 T2
set of orbicular equation constraints. Thus, once the desired T1 T = O1 T T1 T = T2 T T1 T . (1)
motion of the master arm is fixed, the joint positions and Suppose that p(q1 ) represents the position vector of
velocities of the slave robot can be deduced according to T1 in the reference coordinate, and p(q2 ) represents the
the master/slave robots coordination relationship. With the position vector of T2 in the reference coordination, 0n R(q1 )
master/slave mode, the motion of the master and slave robots and 0n R(q2 ) represent the rotation matrix of T1 and T2 in the
is under coordination status during the entire operation reference coordination O2 separately, and R(θ) is the rotary
period. In other words, if the desired motion of the master transformation matrix between the pose of the slave arm end
robot is modified in Real-time, the slave robot motion will relative to the pose of the master robot end. Then we can get
have to be adjusted according to the intrinsic coordination ⎛  1  ⎞
0
relation. nR q p q1
=⎝ ⎠,
O2 O2 O1
The paper is organized as follows. After a survey of T1 T = O1 T T1 T (2)
0 1
related work, the collaboration system is introduced and
⎛ ⎞
the kinematics restrictions of the two modular robots are R(θ) r
=⎝ ⎠,
T2
analyzed in Section 2. A hierarchical kinematics control T1 T (3)
scheme is designed in Section 3. In Section 4, we present a 0 1
bolt and nut assemblage experiment set-up which is executed ⎛    ⎞
0
successfully with the two modular robots system. Finally, we n R q2 p q2
=⎝ ⎠.
O2
T2 T (4)
draw conclusions in Section 5 and suggest some issues for 0 1
further discussion.
From formula (2), (3) and (4), we can get the holonomic
position constraints between the two-arms as follows:
2. Kinematics Constraints of the Cooperative      
Modular Robots p q2 + 0n R q2 · r − p q1 = 0. (5)

In this paper, a cooperative robot system is designed. It And the full pose constraints is
0
 1 0  2
consists of two modular robots and a dynamic optical meter nR q = n R q · R(θ), (6)
named Optotrak. The system configuration is shown in
Figure 1. where
⎛ ⎞
− cos θ − sin θ 0
⎜ ⎟
2.1. Position and Pose Constraints. The two cooperating ⎜
R(θ) = ⎝− sin θ cos θ 0⎟
⎠. (7)
robots are shown in Figure 2. O1 is the base coordinate
system origin of the slave robot, and T1 represents the base 0 0 −1
4 Journal of Robotics

Formula (5) and (6) show that once the pose r and 2.4. Position and Pose Adjustment for the End Effectors of the
position θ of the master arm are fixed, the pose and position Two Modular Robots. When the two modular robots finish
of the slave arm can also be fixed, and by the inverse their cooperation motion, there remain errors between their
kinematics solution the joint variables of the slave arm can poses and the desired positions. These errors are due to
be obtained. the linkage variable errors, kinematics errors, and systematic
errors. We can use Optotrak 3020 to measure the 3-D
2.2. Joint Velocity motion data of the object in Real-time. The measurement

 Constraints. If the Jacobian matrix of the
Jλ precision of Optotrak 3020 is 0.1 mm. Using the Optotrak
robot is J = , by differentiating (4) the linearly velocity 3020, the actual poses of the two-arm end actuators can be
Jα
constraints of the end-actuator can be obtained as follows: measured and fed back to the control computer RobotPC
  2       in Real-time. Then the poses of the two end actuators
Jλ q + L q2 · q̇2 + 0n R q2 · ṙ − Jλ q1 = 0, (8) can be adjusted according to the measurement. From the
data measured by Optotrak 3020, the 3-D error of the
where, L(q2 ) = ∂[ n0 R(q2 )r]/∂q2 ; Jλ and Jα , respectively, master end coordinate origin relative to the slave arm end
represent the linear velocity and angular velocity of the end coordination system can be computed. The error is described
executor caused by the joint velocities. as (Δx Δy Δz Δα Δβ Δγ)T , in which Δα, Δβ, and
Since the difference between the two-arms angular Δγ are separately the angular displacement or pose error of
velocities rotating around ZT2 is θ̇ we can obtain the angular the master end coordinates rotating from the corresponding
velocity constraints of the two-arm end executers: slave end coordinates. The robots can be adjusted to arrive
  T at the desired positions by adopting the resolved motion
w2 = w1 + 0n R q2 0 0 1 θ̇. (9) rate control method (RMRC), which will be described in
Section 3.
From formula (9) we can get:
      3. The Kinematics Control of the Two
Jα q2 q̇2 = Jα q1 q̇1 + θ̇ · o q2 , (10)
Modular Robots
where, o(q2 ) = 0n R(q2 )(0 0 1)T :
By combining formula (8) and (10), we can get The motion controller of the two-arm robots is designed
as a layered hierarchical control. We can set a tri-layered
  
   2  T cooperation control system for the two modular robots as
q̇1 = J −1 q1 J1 q · q̇2 + 0 2
n R(q ) · ṙ − θ̇ · o q2 , shown in Figure 3.
(11) The hierarchical control system consists of a cooperation

 layer, a servo layer, and finally a position and pose adjustment
Jλ (q2 )+L(q2 ) layer. The cooperation layer mainly carries out the motion
where, J1 (q2 ) = .
Jα (q2 ) planning of the master robot, on-line computation of the
Equation (11) is the necessary velocity condition for kinematics cooperation relation, and computation involving
the joint velocities of the two-arms when the two-arms the desired motion of the slave robot. The servo layer
cooperate. During the arms motion, the joint velocity of the mainly carries out the joint control by the joint controller
slave arm q̇1 can be deducted from q1 ,q2 , and q̇2 . ṙ and θ̇ and the motion execution by the two modular robots.
must be given prior to solving the slave robot joint velocity. Position and pose adjustment layer mainly accomplishes the
measurements of the two robot end pose, and position, and
2.3. Joint Acceleration Constraints. Suppose ṙ,θ̇, r̈ and θ̈ are the pose adjustment of the two robot ends by adopting
given in advance; r = (0 0 r)T . Differentiating (11) on RMRC. The RMRC control diagram is shown in Figure 4.
both sides with respect to time, we can get It can be deduced that the relation between the robot
operation velocity q̇(t) = J −1 (q)Ẋ(t) and the joint velocity
  
   2    T q̇(t) = J −1 (q)Ẋ(t) is
q1 = J −1 q1 J1 q · q̈2 + r̈ · o q2 − θ̈ · o q2
 
q̇(t) = J −1 q Ẋ(t). (14)
 1 2
 2
 1 2
 T
+ Ġ q , q q̇ + Ḣ q , q ṙ − θ̇ In the actual computer control, the velocity component
(12) can be described as the increment in unit time. Then (14) can
be rewritten as
where, G(q1 , q2 ) = J −1 (q1 )J1 (q2 ),  
⎛   ⎞ Δq(t) = J −1 q ΔX(t), (15)
2
o q
  0
H q1 , q 2
=⎝  ⎠. (13) where Δq(t) is the joint angle increment in the same time
0 o q2 spacing.
ΔX(t) is the Euler angle displacement of the two robot
It can be seen from (12) that when q1 , q2 , q̇1 , q̇2 , ṙ, θ̇, r̈, end effectors in a sampling cycle.
and θ̈ are known the joint acceleration of the slave robot q̈1 Upon obtaining the ΔX(t) measurement via Optotrak
can be derived. 3020, we can get the joint angle increment, Δq(t), by
Journal of Robotics 5

Cooperation layer

Motion planning Coordinate motion Expected motion

for master robot relationship for slave robot

Inverse kinematics Servo layer Inverse kinematics

computing computing

Joint Joint
controller controller

Master Slave
robot robot

Optotrak 3-D
measurement

Position and pose adjustment layer

RMRC control

Figure 3: The hierarchical control structure diagram.

Joint
encoder

+ ΔX(t) Δq Driving Master X(t)

J −1 (q) qi qi+1
arm
Xr (t) motor
−
X(t)

Optotrak 3020

Figure 4: RMRC control diagram.

substituting ΔX(t) into (15). That can be realized by the
robot joint servo control. After multiple measurements and
feed back to the control computer, the master robot end can
get to the desired position with a high degree of precision.
4. Experiments on the Two Modular
Robots Cooperation
In this section, we describe how to set up an experiment
that demonstrates the cooperation principles involving the
two robots and an optical feedback meter. Specifically, the
experiment explores the two robots cooperation mechanism
used to perform a bolt and nut mating operation.
We begin by describing the experimental set-up. In
this experiment, a robot will hold a part and assemble
it into another part. Such operation exists not only in
the manufacture assembly tasks, but also in many non-
manufacturing tasks. The bolt and nut assembly opera-
tion is chosen because it is a very common mechanical
operation. The master and slave arms in the experiment
are two 6-DOF PowerCube modular robots. By combing
numerical and LINGO software, we can get the cooperative
robots’ workspace. The range of the end effectors is X ∈
(−659.9879, 659.9879), Y ∈ (172.0000, 828.0000), and Z ∈
(−549.7797, 659.9879).
4.1. Motion Planning of the Bolt and Screw Assembly by Two
Robots. The assembly is divided into 5 detailed motion stages
and each of these stages is described below.
Stage 1. To avoid the collision between two robots during
their motion, the first step is to bring the master robot that
holds the bolt to an initial starting position. Next, the slave
robot that holds the nut moves to a position that is a certain
distance away from the master robot.
Stage 2. Using the cooperative kinematics principles, the
master and slave robots assume a position required to
6 Journal of Robotics
perform the assembly. During the motion, the slave robot
motion is online planned in Real-time according to the mas-
ter robot motion. Then the slave robot will move according
to the computed kinematics parameters. In this experiment,
the two cooperative modular robots move towards each other
in the established direction. The assembly position should
satisfy the workspace constraints for the two cooperative
robots. At the end of this stage, a position is chosen such that
the two cooperating robots can complete the assembly.
Stage 3. The positions of the graspers of the two robots’
are measured in Real-time by Optotrak 3020 and the
measurement data is fed back to the control computer
RobotPC. Then the position and pose of the graspers are
adjusted using RMRC.
Stage 4. The master robot holding the bolt starts to move
forward linearly. Meanwhile, the slave robot grasping the nut
starts to move in a uniform circular motion. The speeds of
the two robot motions must be in cooperation so that the
master robot will precisely insert the grasped bolt into the
nut grasped by the slave robot seamlessly.
Stage 5. After the assemblage, the slave robot will loosen the
grip and retreat from the assemblage configuration to return
to its original state. The master robot holds the assembled
parts and moves to the appointed position to release it. After
releasing the assembled parts it will return to its original
state.
4.2. Speed Cooperation during the Assembly. The thread on
the bolt and nut in the experiment is isometry mongline.
When the two robots assume the proper assembly position
and pose, they can carry out the assemblage task with the
master robot feeding linearly and the slave robot moving
in uniform circular motion. During the assembly, the linear
feeding speed of the master robot must match the circular
motion speed of the slave robot. While the nut circumrotates
each circuit, the bolt will move forward a thread pitch.
In the assembly task, the linear feeding motion of the
master robot is uniform speed. The linear feeding speed is
P = v · T, (16)
where,P is the screw pitch of the bolt and nut, v is the linear
feeding speed, and T is the cycle of the master robot in
uniform circular motion.
The angle velocity of the slave robot in uniform circular
motion is
2π
w= . (17)
T
It can be derived from (16) and (17) that
2πv
w= . (18)
P
The relationship between the linear movement of the
master robot grasper and the circular motion of the slave
robot grasper is established in (18).
Figure 5: The bolt and nut assembly by cooperative modular
robots.
In this experiment, there is a time limit for the uniform
circular motion of the slave robot. Specifically, once the
assembly is completed, the uniform circular motion of the
slave robot should come to a complete halt. A timer is
adopted in the program for this purpose. Suppose the linear
motion time of the master robot is 10 s, and the slave robot
motions in three circles with the angle velocity of 0.6 πrad/s.
4.3. Experiment. In the assembly experiment, the bolt length
is 44 mm, its nominal diameter is 10 mm, its pitch is 2 mm,
and the whorl is mongline triangle. The master robot holds
the bolt and the slave robot holds the nut. The whole
assembly process is as follows.
The master robot moves from the original position to a
point at (100, 300, 450). The slave robot moves to a position
where the distance between the slave and the master robot
is 400 mm in the horizontal direction. This movement is
performed such that it obeys the constraint relations.
The two robots move linearly in cooperation. The
master robot moves forward 100 mm horizontally within
10 s, and the slave robot moves according to the constraint
relationship to a point where the distance to the master robot
grasper is 50 mm, a little longer than the bolt length.
The configurations of the master and slave robots ends
are measured by Optotrak 3020 and fed back to the control
computer. By multiple fine tuning through RMRC, the
master robot can get at the desired position for the assembly
operation.
The master robot advances slowly and smoothly with a
constant velocity of 0.001 m/s. Accordingly, the slave robot
rotates with a constant angular velocity. So the two robots
cooperate for the bolt and nut assembly.
When the assembly is completed, the slave end grasper
unclenches and retreats from its assembly configuration. The
master robot grasper holds the assembled parts and moves
to the point (−100, 300, −200) to put down the couples and
then recurs to its original configuration.
Figure 5 shows the experiment in process, the two robots
completing the bolt and nut assembly by cooperation.
The lines in Figure 6 show the end position track of
the master robot in X, Y, and Z coordinates during its
cooperation motion process and the fine tuning process. The
lines in Figure 7 show the end position track of the slave
Journal of Robotics 7

500
Marker data (mm) components, the orientation error of the work pieces, and the
450 Z
orientation error of the grasper. In this paper, we consider the
Y assembly operation of the bolt and nut. So it is required to
400 L3
guarantee that the non-superposition between the bolt and
350 L2
nut epicenter axis is less than the conjugate clearance of the
300 L1
bolt and nut. Suppose the slave robot end grasper center is
250  T
at x1 , y1 , z1 in the reference coordinate system, and the
200  T
slave robot end grasper center is at x2 , y2 , z2 . If the two
150
graspers coordinates are in the Y coordinate direction, their
100 non-superposition can be expressed as follows:
50 X
0 
0:0 0:5 0:10 0:15 0:20 0:25 0:30 δx = (x1 − x2 )2 + (z1 − z2 )2 . (19)
Time (m:s)

Figure 6: Curve for master robot’s end position during the The clearance between the bolt and nut is 0.6 mm as
cooperation and fine adjustments. measured by Vernier calipers. That means that the non-
superposition between the master and slave robots end
graspers center, that is, the bolt and nut epicenter axis should
be:
Marker data (mm)
720
648 L1 δx ≤ 0.6 mm. (20)
576
L2
504 L3 In the experiment, the two marker positions are mea-
Y
432 Z sured by Optotrak 3020. Based on these measurements, the
360 non-superposition between the bolt and nut epicenter axis
288
is computed to be 6.7 mm, which does not satisfy (20).
Through multiple adjustments using the RMRC methods,
216
the non-superposition between the bolt and nut epicenter
144 axis can be adjusted to 0.22 mm such that (20) is satisfied
72 X and the bolt and nut can be assembled smoothly.
0
0:0 0:5 0:10 0:15 0:20 0:25 0:30
Time (m:s) 5. Conclusions and Discussions
Figure 7: Curve for the slave robot’s end during the cooperation In the paper, a cooperative two-modular robot system is
and fine adjustment.
built with optical measurement as feedback. That optical
measurement can be used as feedback directly, which makes
Real-time control easy. The cooperation between the two
modular robots, the constraint conditions of the pose, veloc-
robot in X, Y, and Z coordinates during its cooperation ity and acceleration are analyzed, and finally a tri-layered
motion process and the fine tuning process. The line L1 cooperative control system of RMRC is proposed to adjust
shows the end position according to the measurement of the robots’ pose and position. Based on the cooperative
Optotrak 3020 when the two robots move to the original system hardware platform and the control scheme, a Real-
position. L2 represents the two robots’ end position during time bolt and screw assembly experiment is executed to
their cooperation process. L3 represents the two robots’ end demonstrate the validity of the cooperation control scheme.
position during the multiple fine tuning process. It can Further research on the two modular robots cooperation
be seen from the graph that the original position of the needs be done to improve the current results. Firstly, only
master robot is (66.957, 334.145, 453.763) due to the fact kinematics of the system is studied for the ordinary cooper-
that the marker cannot be stuck at the original point of the ation tasks in the paper. Cooperation tasks require a much
end coordinate reference, but stuck at the point (33, −34, higher precision and the dynamics should be considered in
−4) in the end coordinate conference system. The motion addition to the kinematics.
time of L2 is 10 s, during which period the master robot Secondly, a 3D measurement system of Optotrak 3020
moves linearly in the Y direction of the reference coordinate is used to feed back the end position of the two robots. In
frame. the real industry robot task, it is possible for the robots to
During the robot assembly, the relative configuration contact or collide with each other. In that case, only position
error between the assembly part and the assembly base feedback is far from adequate. Consequently, force or torque
part is an important factor. The relative pose and position sensors should be utilized to measure the force between the
error results from the robot kinematics parameter error, robots. We plan to address both these issues and leave them
clearance of the robot joints, the manufacture error of the as subjects of the future work.
8 Journal of Robotics

Acknowledgments [12] H. Ueno, T. Nishimaki, M. Oda, and N. Inaba, “Autonomous

cooperative robots for space structure assembly and main-
This research is supported by the National Natural Science tenance,” in Proceeding of the 7th International Symposium
Foundation of China (project no. 60705036), Institute of on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation in Space
Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences (project no. (i-SAIRAS ’03), Nara, Japan, May 2003.
20070104), and Beijing Municipal Education Commission [13] H. Ueno, V. Mangalgiri, S. Dubowsky, T. Sekiguchi, M. Oda,
(titled as “Global Map Construction by Mobile Robot Based and Y. Ohkami, “Simulation, analysis and experiments of on-
on Nature Landmark Extraction”). The authors would like to orbit assembly behavior of flexible structure by cooperative
thank Hugh Durrant-Whyte, Jayant Gupchup, John Pretty, robots,” in Proceedings of the 24th International Symposium on
and the anonymous reviewers for commenting on various Space Technology and Science (ISTS ’04), Miyazaki, Japan, May
versions of this research. 2004.
[14] M. Callegari and A. Suardi, “Hybrid kinematic machines for
cooperative assembly tasks,” in Proceedings of the International
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