Robotic Interaction Through Compliant Interfaces: Modelling and Identification

In this work, a new model, able to emulate theinteraction of a robot with the environment when viscoelasticphenomena occur, is presented. The starting point of thisresearch activity has been the study of soft pads for dexterousmanipulation but the results obtained are applicable to allsituations which foresee the interaction of a robotic manipulatorthrough/with a viscoelastic medium (e.g. robotic surgery).Based on the so called quasi-linear model, adopted to describethe behavior of human hand pads and, more generally, ofbiological tissues, this model allows to overcome the problemstied to classical (linear) models, often used in the robotic field.A procedure aiming to obtain the parameters of this nonlinearmodel is developed on the basis of classical identificationmethods and of physical insights. Finally, through experimentaltests on some viscoelastic materials (a polyurethane gel and asilicon rubber) the model is validated.