Abstract
•Equilibrium analysis of a nonprehensile manipulated three-link object is presented.•Analysis is performed in the presence of friction and led to the equilibrium area.•Equilibrium area points are numerically obtained and experimentally verified.
Equilibrium points exploration is crucial for successful nonprehensile manipulation of multi-link objects by cooperative arms which is promising for a class of future robotics applications. This paper presents the equilibrium area numerical analysis, with experimental verification, for nonprehensile manipulation of a three-rigid link object by two cooperative arms in a plane. Inspired by an assistive nursing robot project for manipulating a patient, the interaction between the object and the arms is performed in a way that one of the arms contacts two links of the object while the other arm contacts the object third link. It would be a useful step for the most complicated process of a patient manipulation. The purpose of the equilibrium area analysis is to obtain the equilibrium contact area, associated with different interaction forces, for statically holding the object at all its possible configurations. The dynamic model of the system is presented from which the static equations are deduced. Static equations are analyzed in the presence of friction forces and motion constraints leading to equilibrium contact lengths for a range of angles leading to equilibrium area for every object's configuration. Numerical simulation results for the equilibrium area analysis are presented. Experimental results, for validating the presented numerical results, are also introduced.
[Display omitted]