Finite-Time Equivalent-Input-Disturbance-Based Variable Impedance Control for Robot Manipulators

This paper presents a finite-time equivalent-input-disturbance (FTEID)-based variable impedance control (VIC) algorithm for robots aiming at solving the contact-rich tasks with impedance constraints. To handle the contact-rich tasks in force sensor-free scenarios, the FTEID is designed as the substitute for the force sensors to estimate the contact force. In addition, a novel impedance model where the impedance parameters serve as the input is designed to solve the impedance constraints of the VIC algorithm. The design problem of impedance-constrained VIC algorithm is then transformed into a quadratic programming (QP) problem that can be solved effectively. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.