An Optimization Approach for a Robust and Flexible Control in Collaborative Applications

In Human-Robot Collaboration, the robot operates in a highly dynamic\nenvironment. Thus, it is pivotal to guarantee the robust stability of the\nsystem during the interaction but also a high flexibility of the robot behavior\nin order to ensure safety and reactivity to the variable conditions of the\ncollaborative scenario. In this paper we propose a control architecture capable\nof maximizing the flexibility of the robot while guaranteeing a stable behavior\nwhen physically interacting with the environment. This is achieved by combining\nan energy tank based variable admittance architecture with control barrier\nfunctions. The proposed architecture is experimentally validated on a\ncollaborative robot.\n