Service robots are spreading their application areas to human coexisting real environments. However, it is still difficult to find an autonomous robot that is capable of manipulation services in a real environment. The three major difficulties of manipulation service can be summarized as follows: 1) unstructured human-centered environment; 2) limited resources in a robot; and 3) uncertainties in real environments. This paper deals with the autonomous manipulation task by a service robot in human coexisting environment. We focus on a door-opening problem. In this paper, we concentrate on three issues from the viewpoint of service-robot applications. The first issue is to estimate kinematic parameters by using an active-sensing strategy to overcome uncertainties in a real environment. The second issue is to provide an integrated strategy of motion coordination for door-opening control. This paper discusses the role assignment of each subsystem that depends on the physical characteristics. The third issue is to use the fingertip-contact forces to estimate the external force from a doorknob, instead of using an additional high-cost force sensor at the wrist. The proposed scheme is shown to be useful through experimental results.
['Woojin Chung', 'Changju Rhee', 'Youngbo Shim', 'Hyungjin Lee', 'Shinsuk Park']
Door-Opening Control of a Service Robot Using the Multifingered Robot Hand