Controlling a high degree of freedom Humanoid Robot arm to be dextrous and compliant in its movements is a critical task in Robot control. The dynamics of such flexible and light manipulators have a highly non-linear nature, making analytical closed form solutions using rigid body assumptions inappropriate. The learned control task is based on a visual servoing scenario, which incorporates trajectory planning, inverse kinematics and motor control.

It is desirable in many applications to have robot arms which can follow a specific trajectory. If a multi-joint robot arm tries to follow a desired trajectory, the appropriate motor commands must be applied to each joint of the arm at all times during the motion. Every joint is dependent on its parent joints, and wrong motor commands can lead to undesirable movements; this can result in unpredictable consequences which may have an adverse impact on the robot’s task and its environment. Furthermore, the correct motor commands must be adapted over time in order to take into consideration changing physical parameters such as arm load, orientation, or joint friction.

Analytical approaches make rigid-body assumptions to calculate the inverse dynamics model. However, calculating the dynamics analytically is complex, and in many cases, precise dynamics parameters may not be known. Humanoid Robots with large degrees of freedom, lightweight links and flexible joints do not meet rigid body assumptions.

Humans are born with minimal motor skills, which they hone as they grow older. Their motor skills are also adaptive, to changes in the body’s physical morphology, and the nature of the task being performed. Furthermore biological systems are able to cope with large sensor delays and still accomplish compliant and precise motion. Creating algorithms and robot systems that show such learning behaviour may help develop an understanding of how motor learning takes place in biological systems. The aim, in the long run, is the creation of robots with highly sophisticated and adaptive motor skills.
Source: Read complete article in pdf from http://www.inf.ed.ac.uk/publications/thesis/online/IM060383.pdf

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Amazon Books

	Creative Projects with LEGO Mindstorms by Benjamin Erwin Buy new: $20.64 / Used from: $13.00 A good place to start, especially for kids, with Lego Mindstorms
	A Practical Guide to Behavior-Based Robotics by Joe Jones Buy new: $20.67 / Used from: $15.13 Very good for programming not so much behavior as control. Language and controller agnostic