Force controlled handling with cooperating industrial robots

In this paper, we discuss the process of "handling a work piece" with cooperating industrial robots with the intention of minimizing the forces inside the work piece during the process. The process is very similar to the single-robot process "pick-and-place", but is analysed for the special case of two robots handling one work piece together. We present a qualitative separation of the process in different phases and explain the necessity for different control strategies per phase. We then present a control scheme for the phase "running into work piece". The paper ends with the discussion of results, taken from our test rig, using the control scheme.