A METHODOLOGY FOR COMPUTING OPTIMAL PUSH-PULL CONFIGURATIONS FOR MOBILE MANIPULATORS

In this article we present a methodology to find optimal push-pull configurations for a mobile manipulator (MM) with redundant actuators. It is assumed that the end effector of the MM has to follow slowly a specified path while subject to a set of external forces. With this optimization methodology, the position profiles for the actuators are found such that the load on the actuators is minimized. This allows taking full advantage of the load capacity of the MM and at the same time the configurations obtained are stiffer so that the load-induced deflection of the end-effector is smaller.