The kinematics of contact with compliance

Abstract

The kinematics of contact describes the motion of a point of contact over the surfaces of two contacting objects in response to a relative motion of these objects. In a previous work (Int. of Robotics Res., vol.3, p.17-32, 1988), the author derived equations that embody this relationship when the two objects are assumed to be rigid bodies. In the present work, he extends that analysis by dropping the assumption of rigidity. He derives a set of equations, called the compliant contact equations, which model the kinematics of contact with compliance. He discusses an example that illustrates the effect of compliance on the kinematics of contact. He measures the trajectory of the center of contact on a tactile sensor in response to a known motion and shows how the results fit the proposed model. He analyzes how two tasks that are based on the rigid-body model of the kinematics of contact have been designed to be robust with respect to compliance. For the task of contour-following he provides experimental results that confirm this analysis.