Interactive Force-Impedance Control

Abstract: Human collaboration with robots requires flexible role adaptation, enabling robot to switch between active leader and passive follower. Effective role switching depends on accurately estimating human intention, which is typically achieved through external force analysis, nominal robot dynamics, or data-driven approaches. However, these methods are primarily effective in contact-sparse environments. When robots under hybrid or unified force-impedance control physically interact with active humans or non-passive environments, the robotic system may lose passivity and thus compromise safety. To address this challenge, this paper proposes the unified Interactive Force-Impedance Control (IFIC) framework that adapts to the interaction power flow, ensuring effortless and safe interaction in contact-rich environments. The proposed control architecture is formulated within a port-Hamiltonian framework, incorporating both interaction and task control ports, through which system passivity is guaranteed.