Mass-Adaptive Admittance Control for Robotic Manipulators

Handling objects with unknown or changing masses is a common challenge in robotics, often leading to errors or instability if the control system cannot adapt in real-time. In this paper, we present a novel approach that enables a six-degrees-of-freedom robotic manipulator to reliably follow waypoints while automatically estimating and compensating for unknown payload weight. Our method integrates an admittance control framework with a mass estimator, allowing the robot to dynamically update an excitation force to compensate for the payload mass. This strategy mitigates end-effector sagging and preserves stability when handling objects of unknown weights. We experimentally validated our approach in a challenging pick-and-place task on a shelf with a crossbar, improved accuracy in reaching waypoints and compliant motion compared to a baseline admittance-control scheme. By safely accommodating unknown payloads, our work enhances flexibility in robotic automation and represents a significant step forward in adaptive control for uncertain environments.