Spherical Wrist Manipulator Local Planner for Redundant Tasks in Collaborative Environments

Standard industrial robotic manipulators use well-established high performing technologies. However, such manipulators do not guarantee a safe Human–Robot Interaction (HRI), limiting their usage in industrial and medical applications. This paper proposes a novel local path planner for spherical wrist manipulators to control the execution of tasks where the manipulator number of joints is redundant. Such redundancy is used to optimize robot motion and dexterity. We present an intuitive parametrization of the end-effector (EE) angular motion, which decouples the rotation of the third joint of the wrist from the rest of the angular motions. Manipulator EE motion is controlled through a decentralized linear system with closed-loop architecture. The local planner integrates a novel collision avoidance strategy based on a potential repulsive vector applied to the EE. Contrary to classic potential field approaches, the collision avoidance algorithm considers the entire manipulator surface, enhancing human safety. The local path planner is simulated in three generic scenarios: (i) following a periodic reference, (ii) a random sequence of step signal references, and (iii) avoiding instantly introduced obstacles. Time and frequency domain analysis demonstrated that the developed planner, aside from better parametrizing redundant tasks, is capable of successfully executing the simulated paths (max error = 0.25°) and avoiding obstacles.