Force tracking position-based impedance control of robot manipulator with unknown environment stiffness

In impedance control for contact force tracking it is well known that the reference trajectory of the robot is calculated from known environment stiffness. The accuracy of estimating the environment stiffness determines the performance of the resulting force tracking. Here we present a simple technique, called the trajectory modification technique(TMT), of determining the reference trajectory under the condition that the environment stiffness is unknown. Computer simulation studies have shown that force tracking using the proposed technique is excellent for unknown environment with time varying stiffness.