Dynamic modeling and control for whole body manipulation

Unlike the present manipulator control technologies that operate objects only by the robots' end-effectors, human beings can perform whole body manipulation flexibly and easily. Bio-mimetic research of such skillful human motor behavior is important not only for deeper understanding of human sensations and nervous control functions but also for developing of higher level robots. In this paper, we first formulate the basic model of multipoints whole body interaction between a robot manipulator and its object. We then study three control approaches by considering the limitations of force feedback, the complexity of control algorithms. As an example, we consider a 2-link planar manipulator that operates a circle object with dynamic arm friction. We show a computer simulation algorithm, and compare the results of each control methods, numerically.