MANIPULATOR AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF

A manipulator, and a control method thereof, calculates a degree of freedom (DOF) used to prevent collision with an obstacle in consideration of an order of priority of DOFs for an operation and collision avoidance contribution. The manipulator judges whether there is danger of collision of the manipulator with an obstacle, judges whether or not there is at least one operating DOF capable of avoiding collision with the obstacle among the plurality of operating DOFs, upon judging that there is danger of collision with the obstacle, and avoids collision with the obstacle using at least one operating DOF having the lowest priority while performing the operation among the at least one operating DOF capable of avoiding collision with the obstacle, upon judging that there is the at least one operating DOF capable of avoiding collision with the obstacle.