Tool-Center-Point control of the KAI manipulator using constrained QP optimization

The KAI manipulator is a four joint mobile manipulator, which will be used within the German road clearance package to investigate improvised explosive devices and ordnance from within an armored vehicle. To improve handling of the manipulator, a Tool-Center-Point (TCP) control is implemented. By using constrained quadratic optimization (cQP) it is possible to allow for the control of the manipulator within three different operating spaces. The QP is formulated to account for constraints in the joint angular rates and TCP velocities, as well as additional velocity constraints, e.g. on the movement of the center of mass of the manipulator. The proposed algorithm is able to handle redundant as well as non redundant manipulator kinematics. By using an efficient QP solver the algorithm can be used within a real-time trajectory generation scheme. The performance of the algorithm is demonstrated using simulation results and validated by measurements of the TCP control.