The Design of a Force Control System Simulator for a General-Purpose RobotUsing the Simulink Software

In this article, controlling the end-effector forces is accomplished using a command system with six degrees of freedom. The command system can use a joystick implemented on a parallel mechanism. The follower robot’s end-effector is controlled by the command system and is capable of traversing the reference path with the specified force. To demonstrate this, several paths on different planes are considered and the robot’s end-effector is seen to traverse each assigned path by applying a constant force. It is also possible to identify obstacles and avoid them with this system. The control system is designed so that while approaching an obstacle, the robot’s end-effector does not collide with it. Hence, a general-purpose robot can be navigated with better performance and it can be used as a surgical robot, a robot for carrying sensitive materials or other applications. In such operations, to adjust the contact forces after a collision of the end-effector with the surface, this control system produces the appropriate control feedback. This feedback gives the operator a sense of the forces at the end-effector position and increases the operator manipulation and maneuvering skill.