Hybrid Position/Force Control of a Cable-Driven Parallel Robot with Experimental Evaluation

For cable-driven parallel robots elastic cables are used to manipulate the end-effector in the workspace. In this paper we present a hybrid position/force control which allows for applying defined forces on the environment and simultaneous movement along the surface. We propose a synchronous control of the cable forces to ensure the stability of the end-effector during movement. The performance of the controller is experimentally presented regarding contact establishment and dynamic behaviour during a motion on the cable robot IPAnema 3.