An advanced dual APF-based controller for efficient simultaneous collision and singularity avoidance for human-robot collaborative assembly processes

Immersive coexistence between humans and robots is key for next generations of assembly processes. Accounting for human behavior in a shared working space demands for the prevention of collisions in a persistently changing environment along with the avoidance of robot singularities. This work presents a dual Artificial Potential Fields (d-APF) controller for efficient simultaneous singularity and collision avoidance in human cobot blended assembly tasks. The benefits of the controller have been benchmarked to the damped least square and the artificial potential fields methods and validated with respect to an industrial use case addressing the disassembly of battery packs for e-cars.& COPY; 2023 CIRP. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.