AbstractControl of manipulators during execution of tasks that require the end‐effector to come into contact with objects in its work environment represents an important class of control problem. Hybrid control, a concept which defines the architecture of a class of control laws has been proposed as a method with which to solve this control problem. One interpretation of the hybrid control method is within the framework of constrained motion control. Constrained motion occurs during contact by the manipulator end‐effector with rigid objects in the workplace, hence the motion of the manipulator is kinematically constrained. Papers have appeared in the robotics control literature addressing hybrid control within the constrained motion context which do not explicitly use the constrained dynamic formulation that correctly describes the dynamic behaviour of the manipulator. This article serves to link results from constrained motion control and the existing literature on the hybrid control method. In this article a formulation of the constrained manipulator dynamics is presented in which the hybrid control design is most naturally carried out. This formulation of the manipulator dynamics, previously proposed in the robotics literature, is such that the generalized force and position coordinates to be controlled are mutually orthogonal. Hence, the hybrid selection matrices, a key element of the hybrid control design philosophy, are implicit in this coordinate representation. A hybrid control design methodology is then formulated based on this development. Two hybrid control laws are proposed. For each hybrid control law, the global asymptotic stability is readily established due to the natural coordinate representation. One of these hybrid control laws, a constrained motion control law already proposed in the literature, is given to illustrate the equivalence of the hybrid control design and certain existing constrained motion control methods. Finally, a concrete example of a three‐degree‐of‐freedom robotic manipulator illustrates the hybrid design methodology
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