Sonic-speed manipulation of a bull whip using a robot manipulator

摘要

In this paper, we propose an entirely new ultrahigh-speed actuation technique for achieving whip manipulation with a robot manipulator. By using the characteristics of the whip, we can realize high-speed, dexterous manipulation of the whip. In particular, we aim to achieve sonic-speed manipulation (SSM) at the free end of the whip. To achieve this, we explored the feasibility of SSM by trajectory planning for the robot manipulator. The trajectory was obtained by analyzing whip manipulations performed by a human subject. Next, we simulated SSM based on a mass-spring model with a multilink mechanism. Then, we performed an experiment to achieve SSM of the whip using this trajectory. Finally, we confirmed that SSM could be achieved, and we demonstrated the high feasibility of whip manipulation with the proposed method.