Admittance-Based Surface Alignment for Human-in-the-Loop Robotic Visual Inspection

Abstract

Precision visual inspection requires precise alignment between a robot end-effector and local surface geometry despite perception noise, surface irregularities, and real-time human input. This paper presents a closed-loop robotic orientation-control pipeline with an admittance-based framework that unifies operator input and perception-driven surface alignment. The end-effector is modeled as a virtual sphere moving through a viscous medium, producing synchronized, compliant motion from orientation error and operator commands. Experiments on a 6-DOF manipulator demonstrate stable normal tracking and a final mean orientation error of 0.4 degrees.

Publication
Journal of Manufacturing Systems
Antara Banerjee
Antara Banerjee
Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering
Colin E. Acton
Colin E. Acton
Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering
Xu Chen
Xu Chen
Bryan T. McMinn Endowed Associate Professor