Force Control in Robotics: A Review of Applications

The aim of this article is to present an overview of the most important robotic processes in which force control methods are applied. In recent years, robotization has seen a rapid increase in the use of industrial robots in tasks that require simultaneous implementation of a given path of motion and the robot's force of interaction with the environment. In the field of industrial applications, this applies to issues related to the robotization of machining or some assembly tasks, but also the complex issue of cooperation between robots and people. One of the first applications of force control systems in robots were machining tasks such as grinding or blunting of sharp edges. Currently, robots are used in the following types of machining: grinding, polishing, chamfering, blunting, light milling. The implementation of such tasks requires the use of so-called position-force hybrid control. The task of such a control system is to implement the desired trajectory of the tool movement along the edge being machined or on the machined surface and to exert an appropriate clamping force of the tool. In the field of robotic machining, an important and still valid issue is the development an