FLEXIBLE ROBOT CONTROL HIERARCHY.

Abstract

Current research in the area of robotic control centers around task planning, trajectory planning, and trajectory tracking. While increasing the flexibility of these control subtasks is a task in itself, it is wise to keep in mind the overall control scheme, such that the increased flexibility is realizable. A robotic control hierarchy is proposed. The interdependance of the control modules, and the robot arm itself, are demonstrated. Several known control schemes are shown as subsets of this hierarchy. The capabilities of the higher levels of the control hierarchy are seen as being dependent on the lower levels. This suggests that the developments and refinement of separate modules will lead to an 'intelligent' robot controller design.