Task-Dependent Comfort Zone, a Base Placement Strategy for Mobile Manipulators Based on Manipulability Measures

The present contribution introduces the task-dependent comfort zone as a base placement strategy for mobile manipulators using different manipulability measures. Four different manipulability measures depending on end-effector velocities, forces, stiffness, and accelerations are considered. By evaluating a discrete subspace of the manipulator workspace with these manipulability measures and using image-processing algorithms, a suitable goal position for the autonomous mobile manipulator was defined within the comfort zone. This always ensures a certain manipulator manipulablity value with a lower limit with respect to the maximum possible manipulability in the discrete subspace. Results are shown for three different mobile manipulators using the velocity-dependent manipulability measure in a simulation.