Cooperative dual-arm manipulation in highly dynamic applications

Abstract

Generally, the conventional automatic machines operated in the pharmaceutical sector to fill vials, syringes and other containers use dedicated mechanical transmissions and groups with a particularly rigid automation. On the contrary, in the most innovative solutions, the containers, or more generally the products to be handled, are transported from one station to the next not through traditional advancement systems, such as conveyor belts or carousels, but by special robots suitable for operating in an aseptic environment. The robots pick up the products from one station, handle them appropriately, and deliver them to the next station, where another robot takes them over. The products are manipulated by a single robot at a time, and the performed trajectories are, for the most part, “rest-to-rest”.

The present project aims to study a new paradigm, from the perspective of the so-called “continuous” automatic machines, in which the flow of products never stops and operations are carried out on moving products. To do this, several robots must be able to act on the products simultaneously, co-manipulating them. Accordingly, the project will explore intra-robot cooperation, with an emphasis on path planning and force control.

Project Goals

This research project aims to study the co-manipulation of a product by two robots in order to:

• co-manipulate the product collaboratively, for example:
  • the robots co-transport the product by following the same nominal trajectory with high dynamics, meeting not only kinematic constraints but also constraints regarding the forces exchanged between the robots and the product;
  • the first robot transports the product, while the second robot performs an operation on it;
  • etc.;
• carry out “hand-over” operations from one robot to another, such that the product is exchanged between the robots without stopping;
• develop a cooperative application integrated into an automatic machine of the IMA Life division.

In collaboration with: IMA s.p.a.

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