Dynamic Modeling and Control of Deformable Linear Objects for Single-Arm and Dual-Arm Robot Manipulations

Robotic manipulation of deformable linear objects (DLOs) is important in many applications such as the assembly of deformable wire harnesses and cables in manufacturing. Despite some relevant work in modeling, few studies have studied the comprehensive dynamic modeling and precise automatic control of DLOs using robots due to their high degrees of freedom and high flexibility. To fill this gap, the precise single-arm and dual-arm robot manipulation control of DLOs is studied in this article. First, a more comprehensive dynamic model of DLOs is established based on a discrete elastic rod model, which takes into account the twisting deformation of DLOs. The collisions, contacts, and frictions between the DLOs and the plane, as well as the kinematic constraints of both ends of the DLOs, are also considered in the model. Second, practical dynamic control schemes of robots are proposed to realize the precise control of DLOs for both the single-arm control and dual-arm control. For validations, we built an experimental platform using an ABB Yumi robot to implement and validate the proposed approaches in addition to simulations. Finally, various DLO manipulation tasks are conducted and the results for both single-arm and dual-arm manipulations validate the proposed modeling and control approaches.