Increasing perceptual skills of robots through proximal force/torque sensors: a study for the implementation of active compliance on the iCub humanoid robot

摘要

It is clear that one of the key issues of any robot is its ability to operate autonomously. However, one fundamental point related to such autonomy is safety, especially when a direct human-robot interaction exists. In order to make safer robots, appropriate sensor systems and control systems are mandatory. These sensors must know not only data about the robot itself, but also, and most importantly, about the surrounding environment. This book focuses on these interesting topics, that is, autonomy and safe operation. In particular, it presents a way to ensure the safe behavior of a robot through feedback control strategies. For that purpose, a set of force/torque sensors (FTSs) is properly distributed over the robot. The iCub humanoid robot was employed as a testbed.