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Contact force estimation for serial manipulator based on weighted moving average with variable span and standard Kalman filter with automatic tuning

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Abstract

Sensorless contact force estimation methods facilitate the application of the serial manipulators to manufacturing as they enable robots to interact with unexpected collisions at low cost. In this paper, an external force estimation approach with no embedded sensors is proposed. The approach combines a Weighted Moving Average (WMA) with variable span, the standard Kalman filter (SKF), and its tuning routines. Improved confidence in the motor output torque is achieved due to the reduction of the measurement noise in the motor current by the WMA. The span of the filter adapts continuously to achieve optimal tradeoff between response time and precision of estimation in real time. With the comprehensive information of uncertainty in motor current noise and measurement errors of individual joints speed, an automatic tuning algorithm of the SKF is presented. Validation of the presented estimation approach in terms of estimation accuracy and response time was conducted on the Universal Robot 5 manipulator with differing end effector loads. It was found that the combined force estimation method leads to a reduction of the root-mean-square error and response time by 55.2% and 20.8% in comparison with the established method. The proposed method can be applied to any robotic manipulators as long as the motor information (current, joint position, and joint velocities) is available. Consequently, the cost of collision recognition could be reduced dramatically.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

    Feng Cao & Paul D. Docherty

  2. Institute for Technical Medicine (ITeM), Furtwangen University, Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany

    Paul D. Docherty

  3. Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology, Swinburne University of Technology, Victoria, Australia

    XiaoQi Chen

Authors
  1. Feng Cao
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  2. Paul D. Docherty
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  3. XiaoQi Chen
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Contributions

FC built the dynamic model, performed the validation experiments, and wrote the paper. PDD and XC are FC’s supervisors and instructed his research. Especially, PDD devoted a lot in helping FC to writing this article.

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Correspondence to Paul D. Docherty.

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Cao, F., Docherty, P.D. & Chen, X. Contact force estimation for serial manipulator based on weighted moving average with variable span and standard Kalman filter with automatic tuning. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 118, 3443–3456 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-021-08036-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-021-08036-9

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