In this paper, we develop estimation and control methods for quickly reactingto collisions between omnidirectional mobile platforms and their environment.To enable the full-body detection of external forces, we use torque sensorslocated in the robot's drivetrain. Using model based techniques we estimate,with good precision, the location, direction, and magnitude of collisionforces, and we develop an admittance controller that achieves a low effectivemass in reaction to them. For experimental testing, we use a facilitycontaining a calibrated collision dummy and our holonomic mobile platform. Wesubsequently explore collisions with the dummy colliding against a stationarybase and the base colliding against a stationary dummy. Overall, we accomplishfast reaction times and a reduction of impact forces. A proof of conceptexperiment presents various parts of the mobile platform, including the wheels,colliding safely with humans.
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