The 11th IEEE International Workshop on

Advanced Motion Control

March 21-24, 2010, Nagaoka, Japan

Smooth Touch and Force Control to

Unknown Environment without Force Sensor
for Industrial Robot
Naoki Shimada, Kiyoshi Ohishi, Satoru Kumagai Toshimasa Miyazaki
Nagaoka University of Technology Nagaoka National College of
1603-1 Kamitomioka-cho, Technology, 888 Nishikatakai
Nagaoka, Niigata, 940-2188 Nagaoka, Niigata, 940-8532
JAPAN Tel:+81-258-47-9525 JAPAN Tel:+81-258-32-6435
Fax:+81-258-47-9500 Fax:+81-258-34-9700
Email:shimayan@stn.nagaokaut.ac.jp Email:miyazaki@nagaoka-ct.ac.jp
Email:ohishi@vos.nagaokaut.ac.jp
Email:kumagai@stn.nagaokaut.ac.jp

Abstract—This paper proposes a new smooth touch control to
unknown environments for industrial robot. The touch control
is one of the useful methods for the smooth force control. Many
applications of the manipulator should have a high stiffness
position control method. However, the controller has no flexibility
to the environments. Therefore, a method of high performance
force control is an important factor for many applications. For
this purpose, this paper proposes a new force control structure
based on I-PD force controller and disturbance observer. The
experimental results in this paper confirm that the proposed
method has fine validity of smooth touch control to unknown
environments such as concrete, foamed styrol and cardboard box
by using the tested 3-DOF industrial manipulator.
I. I NTRODUCTION
The motion control method for industrial robot is used in
much application. For example, we have already proposed
many methods of high performance motion control[1][2].
Some of these high performance position control method have
been using in the industrial applications and the industrial
products. Recently, it is important for robot manipulator to re-
alize the high performance force control such as smooth touch
control to unknown environments for several applications such
as industrial field, medical care and so on, in particular with
regard to safety[3].
This paper proposes a new smooth touch and force control
to unknown environment without force sensor for industrial
robot manipulator, which is a solution of this problem in this
paper. The proposed method is constructed by D-PD position
control and I-PD force control. The transient phenomenon
from D-PD position control to I-PD force control is carried
out smoothly. The integrator of I-PD force control system
is quickly initialized to the optimal value by using the dis-
turbance observer and the manipulator dynamics calculation
without force sensor, as shown in Fig.1. The proposed method
is treated as a new sensor-less force control system based
on the disturbance observer and the manipulator dynamics
calculation. The validity of proposed method is confirmed
by the experimental results using the tested 3-DOF robot
manipulator. The environments of the experimental results uses
a concrete block, a foamed styrol block and a cardboard box.
II. R EACTION FORCE OBSERVER
A. Manipulator dynamics calculation
Gear & motor model

The force control has low stiffness in contrast with the po- τL - 1 ωL 1
s
θL
+ J Ls + D L
sition control[4]. When the robot manipulator uses a position θS 1 -
Gear KS
s
control and a force control, the hybrid control of position and Motor
KS Link +
1 1
force is one of the solutions to the task [5].In this case, the θM θS Icmd
Rg Rg
θL τ - 1 1 θm
control system selects by the boundary conditions whether KT
+ Jm s + Dm ωm s

position control or force control is better or not. Generally, a

ω̂L
robot manipulator has the touch process in the process of the Manipulator Dynamics θ̂ L θ̂ S
State and Disturbance
Observer
contact to environment. The robot manipulator generates the calculation
τ̂ L
impulsive force to the environment on condition of this touch τ̂ dyna
- +
process. The response of force control system has influence τ̂ ext
on the impulsive force.
Fig. 1. Model of reaction force observer.

978-1-4244-6669-6/10/$26.00 ©2010 IEEE 36

 Unknown Environment Gear Model
+ - 1 1 θL
S S Men s
+ τL + JLs +DL
+
Den 1 -
Force Controller + KS
s
Ken
+
1 1
Rg Rg
τ ref + K fs2 Wint + ω ref θM
PI Speed Controller
+ + - 1 1
- KT s
- s + - J M s +D M ω m
τext -
WFfb
K fs 3 WPfb I cmd
θˆ L + K3 θ̂s State &
K fsp1 + sK fsd 1 Manipulator Dynamics 1
calculation RgKT + Disturbance
+ K ŵL observer
τ̂ dyna +
2

1 τ̂ L
s K1
θ0
- +
- +

Fig. 2. Block diagram of I-PD force control based on reaction force observer and manipulator dynamics calculation.

τL = (H(θL ) − JLn )ω̇L + b(θL , ωL ) + c(θL ) (4)

τdyna = H(θL )ω̇L + DL ωL + b(θL , ωL ) + c(θL )
+f (θL ) + τext
+ f (θL ) (1)
The robot manipulator dynamics τdyna is shown in (1)[6]. τ̂ext = τ̂L − (H(θ̂L ) − JLn )ω̇L − b(θ̂L , ω̂L )
where H(θL )ω̇L is the inertia force, DL ωL is the viscous −c(θ̂L ) − f (θ̂L ) (5)
friction force, b(θL , ωL ) are the centrifugal force and the
coriolis force, c(θL ) is the gravity force and f (θL ) is the
coulomb friction force. The control block diagram is shown III. F ORCE CONTROL SYSTEM
in Fig.2, which has the two-inertia mechanical model of the A. Force controller
flexible joint between motor and link. θ0 is the position when The sensor-less force controller based on the reaction force
the external force is inserted to the robot manipulator. The observer is shown in Fig.2. In Fig.3, since the environment
flexible joint is defined as the two-inertia model illustrated by velocity θ̇en and the environment acceleration θ̈en is treated
a linear torsion spring between motor and link. Hence, it is as zero, the transfer function of force controller becomes (6) on
difficult to mount force sensor at load side. In this paper, load condition that the bandwidth of PI speed controller is sufficient
position θL is estimated by state observer, as shown in Fig.2. wider than that of force controller. Ken is the stiffness of an
B. Estimation of Reaction Force unknown environment. From (6), the natural angular frequency
In this paper, the reaction force is estimated by the state ωn is obtained in (7).
and disturbance observer and the manipulator dynamics cal-
culation. The reaction force observer is shown in Fig.1. Freac = Kf s2 Ken
(6)
The disturbance observer estimates the disturbance torque τL F ref (1 + K f sD1 )s2 + (K
f s3 Ken + Kf sP 1 )s + Ken Kf s2

which contains the dynamics torque τdyna without the nominal
Ken Kf s2
driving torque τdyna−n and the external torque τext of robot ωn = (7)
manipulator, as shown in (2). 1 + Kf sD1
Moreover, the nominal driving torque τdyna−n contains the Kf s3 Ken + Kf sP 1
nominal inertia JLn and the coefficient of kinetic friction DL , ζ= (8)
2ωn
as shown in (3). Therefore, the external torque τext of robot
manipulator is estimated in (5) by using the state and distur- In (7), the response of force controller is faster by increasing
bance observer and the manipulator dynamics calculation. the integral gain Kf s2 . The response speed and the bandwidth
of force controller depend on Kf s2 and Ken , on condition that
τL = τdyna − τdyna−n + τext (2) the inequality Ken Kf s2 >> Kf sD1 is satisfied , which is the
τdyna−n = JLn θ̈L + DL θ̇L (3) general condition. In ordinary cases, the condition is satisfied

37
because Ken is so larger than Kf sD1 . Therefore, Kf s2 is the
important constant to be considered when the force control is
τ reac
designed. Freac
From (6), the damping factor ζ is also induced in (8).
(8) indicate that the stability of force control system can be
determined by the force feedback gain Kf s3 . On the other
hand, when the force feedback gain Kf s3 is too large, the
robot manipulator often rebounds to the large opposite side
from the collision direction. 3-DOF industrial robot Environment
In order to confirm the validity of I-PD force controller, this
(concrete or styrofoam block)
paper carries out the experiment by using the tested three joint
robot manipulator as shown in Fig.3. The parameters of tested Fig. 3. Overview of experimental method.
I-PD force control is shown in Table I, and the parameters and
the conditions of tested touch and force control are shown in -0.53

Arm position[rad]
Table II. -0.535

In this experimental condition, as the end-effecter of tested -0.54

-0.545
robot manipulator is close to the target environment as shown -0.55
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
in Fig.3, it is able to carry out the smooth touch and force (a)Arm position
0.04
control. Fig.4 points out that the tested I-PD force controller

Arm speed[rad/s]
0.02
is the stable response to the concrete block. Hence, Fig.4 also 0

points out that I-PD force controller is suited to the force -0.02

control to the high stiffness environments such as the concrete -0.04

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
(b)Arm velocity
block. Reaction torque[Nm] 10
0
TABLE I -10
PARAMETERS OF EXPERIMENTAL TESTED I-PD FORCE CONTROL . -20

-30
Description Symbol Parameter -40

Kf sP 1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Position feedback gain(P) 0.5 Time[sec] (c)External torque
Position feedback gain(D) Kf sD1 0.005
Force integration gain Kf s2 0.08 Fig. 4. Experimental result of I-PD force controller.
Force feedback gain Kf s3 0.05
Torque reference[Nm] Fref -20
ωm
Two Inertia
TABLE II D-PD Position ωref PI Speed I ref θm
PARAMETERS OF TESTED TOUCH AND FORCE CONTROL . θ ref Controller& Resonant
Controller
State feedback Gear model θL
Description Symbol Parameter
Position feedback gain(P) Kf sP 1 0.5 τ ref I-PD Force ^τ
dyna θ^S ω^ L
Controller ωm
Position feedback gain(D) Kf sD1 0.005
Force integration gain Kf s2 0.08 Manipulator Dynamics State &
Disturbance
Force feedback gain Kf s3 0.05 calculation observer
^
Torque reference[Nm] Fref -20 ^ θL
τ dyna
Threshold for switch[Nm] Fth -15 τ^ - +
ext
Contact speed of arm[rad/s] ωL -0.25

Fig. 5. Block diagram of the proposed hybrid controller.

B. Hybrid control system
Many applications for industrial robots need to have both Gear Model
τL - 1 1
θL
the exact position control and the stable force control. The +
JLs +DL s
D-PD position controller -
proposed hybrid control system is constructed as shown in KS 1
s +
Fig.5 which is composed of I-PD force controller and D-PD ωMref Fpd
1 1
Rg Rg
position controller. D-PD position controller is constructed as + + + + - 1 1
θm
θMref Kpp PI Speed Controller KT
shown in Fig.6, which is one of high performance position - - - JMs +DM ωm s

control method for industrial robots [1][2]. The control mode θˆ L

I cmd
Manipulator Dynamics + K3 θ̂ s State &
of proposed hybrid control system is selected by the threshold Kpd calculation
1
RgKT + Disturbance
+ K ŵL observer
of external torque τext which is the estimated value of the 1
τˆdyna +
2

τ̂ L
reaction force observer as shown in Fig.1. s K1

In order to confirm the validity of the proposed hybrid

control system, this paper carries out the experiments of touch τ^ext - +
and force control based on the proposed hybrid control system
by using the tested three-joint robot manipulator. Fig. 6. D-PD position control.

38
 Position control Force control
0.2
Position control Force control

Load position[rad]
Load position[rad]

0
0
-0.2 -0.2

-0.4 -0.4
-0.6
-0.6
-0.8 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
(a)Load position (a)Load position
0.1

Load speed[rad/s]
Load speed[rad/s]

0 0

-0.1 -0.1

-0.2 -0.2

-0.3 -0.3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
(b)Load velocity
(b)Load velocity
Force reference
Reaction torque[Nm]

20
20

Reaction torque[Nm]
0
0
Force response
-20
-20
-40
-40
-60 Force response Force reference
-60
-80
0 Impulsive
1 2 force 3 4 5 6 7 8
(c)Reaction torque
9 10 -80
Impulsive force
Time[sec] 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
(c)Reaction torque
Time[sec]

Fig. 7. Experiment results of touch and force control of proposed hybrid con-
trol system for concrete block. : (a)load position (b)load velocity (c)external Fig. 9. Experiment results of touch and force control of proposed hybrid
Torque control system for foamed styrol block. : (a)load position (b)load velocity
(c)external torque

Position control Force control

Load position[rad]
0

-0.1
0.51 -0.2

-0.3
0.52 -0.4
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
(a)Load position
0.53
0.1
Arm position[rad]

Load speed[rad/s]

0.54 0

-0.1
0.55
-0.2

0.56 -0.3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
(b)Load velocity
0.57
Reaction torque[Nm]

0 Force response
0.58
-20

0.59
-40 Force reference
Impulsive force
0.6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 Time[sec] (c)Reaction torque
Time[sec]

Fig. 10. Experiment results of touch and force control of proposed

Fig. 8. Enlarged picture of load position response in Fig.7. hybrid control system for cardboard box. : (a)load position (b)load velocity
(c)external torque

IV. S MOOTH T OUCH AND F ORCE C ONTROL BASED ON

The experimental results from Fig.7 to Fig.10 point out P ROPOSED H YBRID C ONTROL
that the proposed hybrid control system realizes the stable
A. Initial value compensation method of integrator
touch and force control for some unknown environments
such as concrete block, foamed styrol block and cardboard In order to suppress the large impulsive force and the delay
box without force sensor. However, the response of force time of force control, this paper proposes a new compensation
control is slow. In Fig.7, after the tested robot manipulator method of touch and force control based on the proposed
contacts to the concrete block, the force response of force hybrid control system.
control is zero for about 3[sec]. Its force response is stabilized At first, this paper proposes a new initial value compen-
at 7[sec]. Moreover, the tested robot manipulator moves to sation method of integrator of I-PD force controller after
the opposite side from its touch direction and has the large the touch process. When the robot manipulator has the large
impulsive torque such as the maximum value 70[N m] to the impulsive force after the touch process, the integrator stores
target environments. Similarly, in Fig.9 and Fig.10, the force the large error between the force reference and the force
responses of proposed hybrid control system have the slow feedback signal. As the result, the impulsive velocity reference
response and the large impulsive torque for foamed styrol to the opposite side is generated in I-PD force controller.
block and cardboard box after the touch process. Moreover, when the integrator of I-PD force controller stores

39
 Position control Force control
τ ref + K fs2 Wint +
0.2

Load position[rad]
wref 0
- s WFfb -
- -0.2

K fs3 WPfb -0.4

-0.6
K fsp1 + sK fsd1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
(a)Load position
θ0 0.1

Load speed[rad/s]
- 0
+ θm -0.1
τˆ ext
-0.2

-0.3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Fig. 11. Initial values of I-PD force controller. (b)Load velocity
20

Reaction torque[Nm]
Brake Force reference
0

0
-20

-40
Reaction torque[Nm]

−5 Threshold(-15[Nm])
−10
-60 Force response
-80
−15 Position control Force control 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
−20 Time[sec] (c)Reaction torque
−25

−30

−35 Fig. 13. Experiment results of proposed smooth touch and force control for
3.3 3.35 3.4 3.45 3.5 3.55
Point of switching to force control, (a)Reaciton torque concrete block. : (a)load position (b)load velocity (c)external torque
1
and initializing integrator.
Velocity reference[rad/s]

0.8
-0.538
0.6

0.4 -0.47 -0.54

0.2
-0.48

Arm position[rad]
-0.542
0

−0.2 -0.49 -0.544

−0.4
Arm position[rad]

3.3 3.35 3.4 3.45 3.5 3.55

-0.5 -0.546
(b)Velocity reference

-0.51 -0.548

Fig. 12. Imege of brake input for smooth touch process.

-0.55
-0.52

3 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7

-0.53 Time[sec]
the large error, the force response of force control has the
-0.54
delay time.
In order to overcome these problems, when the output Wint -0.55

of integrator is set to zero at the moment of its touch process, -0.56

the velocity reference ωref is shown in (9).

2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6
Time[sec]
WF f b = Kf s3 × Fcmax
WP f b = Kf sP 1 × (θc − θ0 ) Fig. 14. Enlarged picture of load position response in Fig.13.

ωref = −(WF f b + WP f b ) (9)

velocity reference ”Brake Input” to the output of I-PD force
where, Fcmax is the maximum value of impact force which controller in order to reduce an impulsive force as shown
is also the estimated value of the reaction force observer Fig.12. An impulsive force is reduced by ”Brake Input” which
as shown in Fig.1. θc is the position at the moment of its is the opposite velocity reference −ωF B . ωF B is the actual
touch process. Therefore, the initial value of integrator of I-PD velocity feedback signal.
force controller is shown in (10). The proposed initial value
compensation method obtains the output Wint of integrator by C. Experimental results
using (10).
In this paper, the validity of the proposed method is
ωref = Wint − (WF f b + WP f b ) = 0 confirmed by the experimental results using the tested 3-
DOF manipulator. The experimental results are shown in from
Wint = WF f b + WP f b (10)
Fig.13 to Fig.16.
The experimental results of concrete block are shown in
B. Brake input for smooth touch process Fig.13. These results point out that the robot manipulator
Next, this paper proposes a new additional input reference keeps the smooth contact to the concrete block after the touch
for smooth touch process to the output of I-PD force con- process. The force response of Fig.13 is faster than that of in
troller after the touch process. The proposed additional input Fig.7.
reference calls ”Brake Input”. When the manipulator touches The experimental results of foamed styrol block is shown
to an environment, the proposed method inserts the additional in Fig.15, and the experimental results of cardboard box is

40
 Position control Force control
Load position[rad]
0

-0.1

-0.2

-0.3

-0.4
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
(a)Load position
0.1
Load speed[rad/s]

-0.1

-0.2

-0.3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
(b)Load velocity
20
Reaction torque[Nm]

0
Force reference
-20

-40
Force response
-60
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
(c)Reaction torque
Time[sec]

Fig. 15. Experiment results of proposed smooth touch and force control for Fig. 17. View of the exprimental result to cardboard box.
styroform block. :(a)load position (b)load velocity (c)external torque

Position control Force control

0.2
method of the integrator of I-PD force control.
Load position[rad]

-0.2
The proposed method realizes the smooth touch and force
-0.4
control for the several target environments such as concrete
-0.6
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
block, foamed styrol block and cardboard box, because it need
(a)Load position not to have any information of environments. The validity
0.1
of proposed method is confirmed by the experimental results
Load speed[rad/s]

-0.1 using the tested 3-DOF manipulator. In these experimental

-0.2 results, the force response is obviously improved by the
-0.3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
proposed method.
(b)Load velocity
10
R EFERENCES
Reaction torque[Nm]

0 Force reference
-10
-20
-30
Force response
-40
0 1 2 3 4 5
Time[sec]
Fig. 16. Experiment results of proposed smooth touch and force control for
cardboard box. : (a)load position (b)load velocity (c)external torque
shown in Fig.16. These results point out that the manipulator
is keeping the smooth touch process and fine force control
quickly. Moreover, the impulsive forces at the touch process
in Fig.15 and Fig.16 are lower than the result as shown in Fig.9
and Fig.10. Especially, the force response result of cardboard
box is smooth and fast as shown in Fig.17. Therefore, these
experimental results confirm that the proposed method realizes
the fine force control to unknown environment.
V. C ONCLUSION
This paper proposed a new smooth touch and force control
to unknown environment without force sensor for industrial
robot, which is based on the hybrid control system of D-PD
position control and I-PD force control by using the reaction
force observer. In the proposed method, the transient process
from D-PD position control to I-PD force control is smoothly
carried out by using the proposed initial value compensation
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