Dynamic Control for Robot-Human Collaboration
K. Kosuge, H. Yoshida, T. Fukuda
Department of Mechano-Informatics and Systems
Nagoya University
Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku
Nagoya 464-01
JAPAN
Abstract This paper proposes a new robotic system, which
consists of multiple robots and executes a task in cooperation with
humans. In this paper, we consider a task in which the robots and
humans manipulate an object in coordination. We assume that no
interactions occur among robots and humans, that is, robots and
humans have interactions each other only through the object. We
also assume that the humans are manipulating the object around a
point fixed to the object. Under these assumptions, we design a
controller for each robot around the point so that the object has a
prescribed passive dynamics around the point. The stability of the
resultant system is assured based on the Popov's Hyper Stability
Theorem under the assumption that the passivity conditions for the
humans are satisfied. The resultant control algorithm is applied to
an experimental system, which consists of two industrial
manipulators and a human. The results illustrate the proposed
control algorithm.
I. Introduction
With the development of robot technologies, robots have been
applied to many industrial fields. The robots have been used as
programmable machines and completely isolated from humans. To
make robots more human-friendly and make them available in other
applications, such as home automation, constructions, agriculture,
medical application, etc., we need a robotic system which can
execute tasks collaborating with humans. The robotic system
collaborating with humans is very complex and difficult to be
synthesized, since the total stability of the system depends on not
only t h e r o b o t controllers but also t h e u n k n o w n h u m a n
characteristics [l], [2].
This paper proposes a dynamic control algorithm for a robot-
human collaboration system, in which humans execute a task in
cooperation with multiple robots. In this paper, we consider a task
to manipulate an object by robots and humans in collaboration as
shown in fig.1. The object may have an interaction with its
environment.
Fig. 1 Object Manipulation by Robot-Human Collaboration
IEEE l n t e r n a t ional WorkshoD .on
Robot and Human Commun I c a t I on
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First, we propose a robot-human collaboration system which
consists of multiple robots and humans manipulating an object
together. We assume that there are no interactions among robots
and humans, that is, robots and humans have interactions each other
through the object. W e also assume that the humans are
manipulating the object around a point fixed to the object.
Under these assumptions, we design a controller for each robot
around the point so that the robot behaves passive around the point.
The stability of the resultant system is assured based on the Popov's
Hyper Stability Theorem under the assumption that the passivity
conditions for the humans are satisfied.
The resultant control algorithm is applied to an experimental
system, which consists of two industrial manipulators and a human.
The experimental results illustrate the proposed control algorithm.
11. Problem for Robot-Human Collaboration
In this section, we are going to propose a robot-human
collaboration system and consider its dynamic control problem. The
robot-human collaboration system, we consider in this paper,
consists of robots and humans and executes a task in coordination as
shown in fig. 1. We assume that the robots and the humans have
mechanical interactions each other only through the object i n
manipulation as shown in fig.2.
In this system, the humans command the motion of the object by
applying the force to the object in coordination toward the direction,
which they want to move it along. The humans and the robots share
the load. The robots, supporting the most part of the load of the
object, will move the object as commanded by the humans. Note
that the force means the force and moment in this paper.
T o realize the system, we have to consider the following
problems;
(1) Motion coordination of robots and humans
(2) Stability of the resultant system including unknown dynamics
of humans
.
. (
\
Object )
Fig. 2 Relation among Humans and Robots
 111. Control Algorithm where Fei is the external force applied to the i-th arm around the
desired compliance center of the object. From the assumption that
We design a controller of each arm so that the manipulated object there is no relative motion between each arm and the object, we
together with the robots has a prescribed passive dynamics. By have
designing the apparent dynamics of the object appropriately, the total
system is controlled so that the humans can command the motion of
(3)
the object by applying the force to the object in coordination toward
the direction which they want to move it along.
We have proposed a coordinated motion control algorithm of Let the external force&, is shared by each arm as follows:
robots manipulating an object[3][4]. We are going to reconsider the
algorithm and design a control law so that we can specify the
apparent mechanical impedance of the manipulated object.
Consider a problem to realize a mechanical impedance of the
object around its desired compliance center as shown in fig. 3. We where pi > O .
assume that each robot grasps the object firmly and no relative
motion occurs between the robot and the object at grasping point. Concerned with the external force applied to the object, the
following relation holds:
Let the desired mechanical impedance of the object be expressed
by the following equation:
n

MX + DX = Fext (1)
C Fei = Fext
i=l
(5)

where x is a generalized coordinate vector of the manipulated object and we have

representing the pose of the object, Fexr is the extemal force applied
to the object, and M and D are 6 x 6 positive definite matrices. That n
is, the generalized coordinate vector x represents the position of the
CPi=l
desired compliance center fixed to the object and the orientation of i=l
the object around the compliance center with respect to the absolute
coordinate system. The extemal force vector represents the resultant
force and moment applied to the object around the point with respect From these equations, we obtain the mechanical impedance of each
to the absolute coordinate system. arm, which is necessary to realize the desired mechanical
It should be noted that the humans in coordination can move and impedance of the manipulated object expressed by eq. ( l ) , as
follows:
position the object through the above dynamics if we can control the
robots so that the apparent dynamics of the object is expressed by
eq.(l).
To specify the apparent impedance of the manipulated object, we
consider the case in which each arm is impedancecontrolled around
the compliance center fixed to the object as shown in fig. 4. Let the
mechanical impedance of the i-th arm around the desired compliance Note that the motion of the object for a force applied by humans
center of the object be expressed by around its desired compliance center is expressed by eq.(1).

i-th Arm i-th Arm ImDedance

<'U Desired CO ance Center

/ Absolute Coordinate System

Fig.3 Desired Object Compliance Fig.4 i-th Arm Impedance around Desired
Compliance Center of Object

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 IV. Stability where FHi is the force applied by the i-tb human operator to the
object.
In this section, we are going to consider the stability of the Without loss generalities, we assume that a human operator is
resultant system including the unknown human dynamics. passive and satisfy the following equation [5]-[7];
To prove the stability of the control system, we apply the Popov's
hyper stability theorem. Fig. 5 illustrates the resultant system
including the unknown human dynamics. The prescribed
impedance dynamics forms a forward time-invariant linear block,
and the operator build a backward non-linear block.
As is well-known, the system is asymptotic hyper stable, if the where rho2is the initial energy accumulated in a human operator.
forward time-invariant linear block satisfies a positive real condition Fromeq. (10) and(11), we have;
and the backward non-linear block satisfies the Popov integral
inequality.
Since it is apparent that the forward time-invariant block satisfies
a positive real condition, we show that the backward non-linear
block, which consists of humans, satisfies the following equation
(Popov's integral inequality);
m
Yo2 = c
i=l
Yhio2
(9)

As described in eq. (12), the backward non-linear block satisfies

where F = Fex, is the resultant force applied to the object and x is Popov integral inequality. Thus the resultant control system is hyper
the velocity of the object. stable for human dynamics satisfying eq. (1 1).
The resultant force applied to the object consists of forces applied
to the object by humans and inertial force caused by the motion of V. Experiments
the object. For the simplicity of discussions, we neglect the effect of
the inertial force in the following, although the stability of the
We applied the proposed control system to a human-robot
resultant system is not affected by including the inertial force. The
external force is thus expressed as follows; collaboration system, which consists of two industrial robots and an
operator. Each industrial robot has six degrees of freedom. Wrist
force sensor was used to measure the external force applied to each
robot. Fig. 6 illustrates the experimental system.
Each robot is controlled so as to have the mechanical impedance
of eq. (2) around a specified compliance center using i860 MPU
with VxWorks. The sampling rate was 8WH.z. Both arms have the
Forward time-invariant same impedance parameters, that is, fi = pz = 0.5.

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linear block with
prescribed dynamics
Fig. 7 and 8 show the experimental results along x-axis of the
absolute coordinate system. The results show that the external force
,..---.--...--.._--____._____I___.____._----
was shared equally by both arms and the trajectory of the object was
successfully controlled.

1:
n-th Robot

2nd Robot

1st Robot

Object t
._.._..__._.___._____________I

Human m I
Backward non-linear block Absolute Coordinate System

Fig. 5 Resultant System Fig. 6 Experimental System

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 VI. Conclusions
In this paper, we proposed a human-robot collaboration system,
in which multiple robots execute a task in cooperation with human
operators. In this system, the humans command the motion of the
object by applying the force to the object in coordination toward the
direction, which they want to move it along. The humans and the
robots share the load. The robots, supporting the most part of the
load of the object, will move the object as commanded by the
humans.
We designed a controller for each arm so that the manipulated
object has a specified mechanical impedance. The humans in
coordination can manipulate or position the object through the
specified impedance dynamics. The resultant control system was
shown stable for unknown human dynamics satisfying the passivity
condition. The proposed control algorithm was implemented
experimentally in a robotic system with two industrial robots.
Experimental results illustrate the proposed control system.
Reference
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[7] J. Dundragne, C. Andriot, R. Fournier, "A Generalized Bilateral
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[ l ] K.Kosuge, Y.Fujisawa, T.Fukuda, "Interface Design for Man-

Machine Interactions," IEEE International Workshop on Robot
and Human Communication, pp. 143-148, 1992

0 5 10 1s
-10 I
0 5 10 1s

Time [SI Time [SI

(a) Left Arm Trajectory along x Axis (a) Left Arm Force along x Axis

20

10

1 I -10
5 10 1s 0 10

Time [SI Time [SI

(b) Right Arm Trajectory along x Axis (b) Right Arm Force along x Axis

Fig. 7 Experimental Result 1 Fig. 8 ExDerimental Result 2

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