9318888 Asada This research will explore a new methodology for robotic assembly by using active and adaptive manipulation techniques. Instead of simply receiving sensor information from the process and generating control signals as functions of sensor signals, positive control actions are taken by actively shaking the end effector and perturbing the control commands in order to reduce friction, better observe the process, fine tune the control parameters, and seek a better control law. Specific research issues include; how to tune the dither frequency and amplitude to optimize the suppression of friction, how to monitor the assembly process by taking the correlation between the imposed dither and the resultant force measurement, and how to improve the assembly operation through progressive learning.
