Mechatronics Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 311-319, 1991 0957-4158/9l $3.00+0.

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Printed in Great Britain © 199l Pergamon Press plc

DESIGN OF A ROBOT GRIPPER WITH FORCE F E E D B A C K

CONTROL

J. D. TEDFORD
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Auckland, Auckland, New
Zealand
(Received 14 February 1991; accepted 1 March 1991)

Abstract--The design of a two-jaw robot gripper using a D.C. servomotor with optical encoder is
described. Force control of the gripper is achieved using armature current sensing as a means of
detecting motor torque and hence the force applied between the gripper jaws.
The motor was modelled mathematically to obtain the second order equation relating armature
current to the applied motor voltage. This relationship was used to develop a proportional plus
integral digital control algorithm enabling force feedback to be achieved.
Two-way communication between the ASEA robot controller and the IBM-XT gripper controller
enables a range of gripping forces to be accessed throughout the robot programme cycle, any one of
which may be selected at a particular time. Anticipated problems associated with the thermal drift
and transient responses have largely been overcome by repeatedly recalibrating the gripper
throughout a work shift.

INTRODUCTION

T h e majority of industrial robots used in materials handling applications are e m p l o y e d

to hold and manipulate rigid objects such as mechanical or electrical c o m p o n e n t s .
These in general can withstand the application of firm gripping forces f r o m a r o b o t ' s
end-effector, without suffering any detrimental effects. As a c o n s e q u e n c e , industrial
r o b o t grippers tend to be relatively simple mechanical calliper mechanisms, actuated
by pneumatic, hydraulic or electro-mechanical drives. T h e m o t i o n of these grippers is
s t o p p e d when the reaction force f r o m the gripped object equals the p o w e r source of
the gripper m e c h a n i s m itself. With the e n h a n c e d 'intelligence' of second and third
generation robots utilising adaptive control, based on information received about their
immediate surroundings f r o m sensors, a n e e d exists for this 'intelligence' to extend to
the r o b o t end-effector, thus enabling it to alter the p a r a m e t e r s of its gripping action
d e p e n d i n g on specific circumstances. Considerable research into end-effector design
has b e e n carried out in recent years with some notable successes in the d e v e l o p m e n t
of multi-jointed articulating grippers suitable for specialised handling applications
[1-4].
The p u r p o s e of this particular project was to develop a two-jawed r o b o t gripper of
a conventional configuration with the ability to alter its applied force in a controlled
m a n n e r . This was seen as being an appropriate extension to the capabilities of a
conventional r o b o t gripper, giving it the ability to handle a wide variety of objects
requiring a range of gripping forces. Thus, objects which are fragile requiring a
delicate purchase could be handled as readily as robust, h e a v y objects requiring a firm

311
312 J.D. TEDFORD

gripping force. The ultimate aim was to achieve this variability in gripping force from
within the robot control system itself through the use of a force feedback controlled
electro-mechanical gripper [5].

M E C H A N I C A L DESIGN

Various gripper configurations were considered in an attempt to maintain a

compact and reliable unit.
The design finally settled on is shown in Fig. 1. This gripper uses as its power
source a permanent magnet D.C. servomotor with a planetary gearhead, through an
anti-backlash split pinion gear, driving two opposing racks attached to the jaws of the
gripper. The motor and gear ratios selected enabled a maximum gripping force of
4 0 N to be achieved with a maximum closing speed of 1 8 0 m m s e c -~. An optical
encoder attached at the rear of the motor gave a theoretical positional resolution for
the gripper jaws of 0.86 t3m. The in-line orientation of the motor and encoder,
although extending the tool centre point (TCP) of the robot arm, retained a degree of

Fig. 1. Gripper with in-line motor and encoder.

314 J.D. TEDFORD

A block diagram of the overall control system is shown in Fig. 3. A Hewlett

Packard H C T L 1000 motion control IC was chosen as the controller for the
servomotor. This IC is used to decode the output from the optical encoder to give
positional control. It is also capable of producing a variable pulse-width modulated
signal, which is used to control the armature current supplied to the motor. Thus the
force applied between the gripper jaws can be directly controlled.
The force feedback signal is derived from a constantin wire resistor mounted in
series with the servomotor. The voltage drop across the resistor is measured by a
differential amplifier, passed through an active filter to remove harmonics, and the
resulting D.C. component used to provide the feedback signal to the controller IC, as
shown in Fig. 4.
An H-Bridge amplifies the T T L level pulse-width modulated signal used to drive
the servomotor in either direction, to facilitate the jaws opening and closing. By
changing the level of the input signal " S I G N " in Fig. 5, either pair of the diagonally
opposed power transistors will conduct, driving the motor in one direction or the
other. The circuit logic ensures that during direction reversal, an adequate delay
exists between switching transistors on the same leg on and off, thus avoiding current
overload.

ASEA
Robot
cantroLLer
Positionfeedback
r

Digital --~~ - - ; ~[ RObotgripper

_ interface
Computer

Forcefeedback
Fig. 3. Overall system block diagram.

~ Gripper
motor

( H-Bridge
ampLifier Resistor
(force
sensor)
Differential
amplifier ~ Feedback signal )

Fig. 4. Generation of feedback signal.

 Ol-DB : IN4001
D9- DI2 : IN4007 7Z
ICl : CD4093 o
IC2 : 74LS02
IC3, IC4 : 74LS08
Q4~Q6~QI2,QI6 : BCA37
Q3, Q7, QII,OI5 : MJEI3009
C3 C5
IONF I R7 R25 IONF
4,7 F~8[
~)I 47
BC 639 !
IK R4 I JR291K
22R L~22K

e-~

RI R2 +SV
O

I0 NF +SV +SV IO NF

D3 ) I::~I/M
D7 D 8 ~~L .
IK | RI2/ IK
RI4 R32
RII 0 22 l ]RI3 4,7
22K JIK5 RI8 4,7
47

Fig. 5. H - B r i d g e amplifier. ~
316 J.D. TEDFORD

The closed-loop transfer function for the force control is of the proportional plus
integral type, namely

D ( z ) - -
M(Z)
- -
g p ( 1 + ki) z
{ '/
(1 + g i )

E(z) z - 1

for which the constants Kp and K i can be determined for the specific sample and rise
times implemented in the controller. The equivalent time-domain equation for the
controller output is given by

m K = K p x K i e K -- Kpe K 1 + mK-1,

and it is this equation which is continuously evaluated in the control software to

achieve the force control.

DIGITAL INTERFACE

Electronic hardware was required to provide the interface between the microcom-
puter, the H C T L 1000 motor controller, the A - D converter and A S E A robot
controller. A schematic of the interface is shown in Fig. 6. In addition to providing
the control signal interface between the various devices, the microcomputer executes
the software algorithm needed to achieve the force feedback control.

ock generator J
HCTLIO00
Address Address j Motor
Lines
decoding controLLer
~ [ Motor P W M ) / gripper

I B M PC

Data
N Lines f ASEA
Robot
controLLer

converter ~<~AnoLogueI/P ] sensor

Force
m A i D

Fig. 6. Digital interface block diagram.

 Robot gripper with force feedback control 317

The H C T L 1000 provides the servomotor with the appropriate PWM drive signal
when requested to do so and keeps track of the motor's position from the optical
encoder.
The A - D converter uses a 12-bit AD7572 chip in its "Slow Memory" mode.
Although this causes the microcomputer to halt while conversion takes place, no
significant time penalty was experienced in practice.
The A S E A robot controller has eight data lines available for communication with
external devices. Four of these are used for exclusive read while the other four are
used for write. Thus a total of 16 different instructions can be written to or read from
the robot controller. The 24 V logic of the robot controller needed to be isolated
from the microcomputer, this was achieved by the use of appropriate opto-couplers.
A PCB containing the necessary components for digital control and interface was
designed using "Protel". This board was housed in one of the expansion slots of the
microcomputer, with all external connections being made via a DB37 pin connector.

CONTROL SOFTWARE

The control software was written in Turbo Pascal 4.0 to perform the following
functions.
(i) Read and Write to the H C T L 1000 registers to enable the operating mode of
the IC to be changed, and to set the PWM duty-cycle for variable force control.
(ii) Read from and Write to the robot controller to initiate and acknowledge
specific gripping actions at appropriate points in the robot programme cycle.
(iii) Calibrate the gripper periodically by generating an unloaded velocity profile, for
subsequent use in detecting the presence of an object between the gripper jaws.
(iv) Open or close the gripper to any desired position.
(v) Close the gripper on an object and hold it with a predetermined force.
At the beginning of each work shift and periodically throughout it, a gripper
calibration cycle would be called for. This calibration cycle essentially establishes the
fully open position for the gripper in terms of optical encoder counts. It then
generates a velocity profile for the gripper in terms of encoder counts versus time by
gradually increasing the PWM duty-cycle until mechanical friction is overcome and
the jaws close smoothly. Once closed, the maximum PWM duty-cyle is momentarily
applied and the corresponding A D C value noted and normalised to scale the
feedback signal. Repeating this calibration routine periodically throughout the work
shift accounts for any performance changes resulting from temperature variations or
static friction, and the accuracy of the force control is maintained.
When the robot programme calls for a close gripper action, the force with which it
closes on the object is specified by a four-bit input to the microcomputer. Thus any
one of 16 different gripping forces, expressed as a percentage of the maximum force,
can be applied. As the jaws close on the object, the velocity profile of the gripper is
noted and compared with the stored profile. The tactile sensitivity of the gripper is
preset to ensure that fragile objects are undamaged during this phase of the gripper's
operation. When contact with the object is detected by a change in the velocity
318 J. D. TEDFORD

profile, a holding torque proportional to the preselected PWM duty-cycle is applied

and maintained by means of the armature current feedback control previously
described. Following an acknowledgement from the microcomputer, the robot con-
troller continues with subsequent programme instructions until an open gripper
command is encountered, at which point a 50% PWM signal with an opposite sign is
sent to the gripper. After opening, the gripper is ready to receive another close
command with a different closing torque or a recalibration command.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

A series of tests were conducted o n . t h e gripper to verify its performance under

various load conditions. While the results were being performed, the H C T L 1000
output (MK) was sampled at 100 Hz intervals and written to a computer file for
subsequent analysis. The error signal was similarly recorded. Figure 7 shows the
results of a typical plot of sampled data over a 2.5 sec interval. The y-axis is
expressed in terms of " P W M units" reflecting the fact that the applied force is
directly proportional to the PWM duty-cycle fed to the servomotor. It should be
noted that the effective working range for the applied force ranges from a maximum
PWM cycle having a mark to space ratio of 90%, to a minimum cycle required to
overcome friction of approximately 40%, as determined from the calibration routine.
Thus a requested applied force of 20% of maximum, results in an output force of
{ 0 . 2 ( 9 0 - 4 0 ) + 40} = 50 PWM units. As can be seen from Fig. 7, this value cor-
responds closely to the steady state value of the output.
It can also be seen that with the chosen values of Kp and Ki, the error signal
rapidly approaches zero. Although both signals appear to be noisy, the performance
of the gripper appears to be unaffected and successful tests have been carried out
ranging from the handling of a 4 kg block of steel at one extreme, to a light bulb, raw
egg and disposable plastic cup at the other.

Force = 20%
Kp: 0.00010 K I = 660

80

6O

20

u_ 0

-20

-40 - -
Time

Fig. 7. Typical output and error signal.

 Robot gripper with force feedback control 319

CONCLUSIONS

T h e original aims o f the p r o j e c t h a v e largely b e e n fulfilled. T h r o u g h the use o f a

p r o p o r t i o n a l plus i n t e g r a l c o n t r o l a l g o r i t h m , the g r i p p e r is c a p a b l e of h a n d l i n g a w i d e
r a n g e o f o b j e c t s by a p p l y i n g a p r e s c r i b e d h o l d i n g force m a i n t a i n e d by f e e d b a c k f r o m
the s e r v o m o t o r ' s a r m a t u r e c u r r e n t . T h e g r i p p e r c o n t r o l l e r m o u n t e d in the I B M - X T
m i c r o c o m p u t e r acts as a slave p r o c e s s o r which carries o u t the g r i p p i n g r o u t i n e s o n
i n s t r u c t i o n f r o m the A S E A r o b o t c o n t r o l c o n s o l e . T h u s w h e n p r o g r a m m i n g the r o b o t ,
the p r o g r a m m e r m e r e l y specifies a f o u r - b i t o u t p u t c o m m a n d , o b t a i n a b l e f r o m a
l o o k - u p t a b l e , to specify an a p p r o p r i a t e g r i p p i n g force for the o b j e c t b e i n g h a n d l e d .

Acknowledgements--The author wishes to acknowledge the financial support provided by the Auckland
University Research Grants Committee to make this project feasible.

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