Impact mitigation using kinematic constraints and the full space parameterization method

A new method for mitigating unexpected impact of a redundant manipulator with an object in its environment is presented. Kinematic constraints are utilized with the recently developed method known as full space parameterization (FSP). System performance criteria and constraints are changed at impact to return the end effector to the point of impact and halt the arm. Since large joint accelerations could occur as the manipulator is halted joint acceleration bounds are imposed to simulate physical actuator limitations. Simulation results are presented for the case of a simple redundant planar manipulator.