2018 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)

Madrid, Spain, October 1-5, 2018

Development of Low-Inertia High-Stiffness Manipulator LIMS2

for High-Speed Manipulation of Foldable Objects*
Hansol Song, Yun-Soo Kim, Junsuk Yoon, Seong-Ho Yun, Jiwon Seo, and Yong-Jae Kim

Abstract—In this paper, a dual-arm robot system for

high-speed manipulations, which is named LIMS2-AMBIDEX
and is developed to compete in the IROS2018 Robotic Challenge,
is presented. It has two seven-degrees-of-freedom (DOF)
lightweight arms, a three-DOF head, and a one-DOF gripper to
manipulate foldable objects. Because all the heavy actuators are
placed at the shoulder, it has remarkably low mass beyond the
shoulder (2.63 kg), which guarantees an inherent safety at high
speeds. Utilizing tension-amplification mechanisms, the high
stiffness and strength are achieved, and thus it has the control
performance comparable to conventional industrial
manipulators. A unique three-DOF wrist mechanism, whose
motions directly represent the quaternion values of the joint
orientation, can manipulate objects without singular points in
the entire range of motion. In order to utilize the object’s inertia
during rapid manipulation, the gripper was specially designed:
it has a one-DOF finger to grasp the upper rib of the foldable
fan and two supporting forks to grasp the bottom rib stably.
For real-time performance and increased scalability, a
software framework was developed based on Robot Operating
System (ROS). The real-time capability is achieved by using the (a)
real-time development framework Xenomai and the high-speed
communication protocol EtherCAT. As most of the algorithms
are implemented in the distributed nodes using ROS, it is
convenient to expand, improve, and replace the algorithms.
Consequentially, the entire motion of the Fan Robotic Challenge
Phase I Modality B required 1.05 s, which is substantially faster
than a similar manipulation by most humans.
(b)
Fig. 1. (a) Developed dual-arm robot system LIMS2-AMBIDEX
I. INTRODUCTION with a gripper on the right arm and a dummy hand on the left arm, (b)
Until the present, there have been various efforts to Developed Gripper for the fast manipulation of foldable objects.
develop high-speed dexterous robots. For high-speed remarkable results including actions such as hitting, catching,
manipulation, fast and lightweight mechanisms and actuators dribbling, and regrasping objects. Catching fast-flying objects
as well as effective control algorithms with real-time software is also a challenging and complex problem, which requires
frameworks are required. Recently, as the demand for safe trajectory prediction, identification of optimal intercept points,
cooperative robots continuously increases, an increasing and rapid trajectory planning [3]. Introducing softness in the
number of robots are appearing in markets and competitions. catching approach and applying it to KUKA LWR4+, Sina et
However, achieving safety during high-speed tasks by using al. overcame the sensorimotor imprecision during catching
conventional mechanisms and control systems is highly [4].
challenging.
In an environment where humans and robots operate
Ishikawa et al. developed high-speed hand-arm systems together, safety is important apart from high accuracy and
using customized motors and gears [1,2]. Along with speed. Thus, an increasing number of researches on safety
high-speed vision systems, these robots have exhibited have also been carried out. A tendon-driven mechanism is
suitable for minimizing robot mass and thus achieving safety
*Research supported by NAVER Labs. Co. during high-speed motions. The authors’ previous work, the
Yong-Jae Kim, is with Korea University of Technology and Education
(Koreatech), Cheonan-City, Rep. of Korea (corresponding author to provide
Low-Inertia High-Stiffness Manipulator LIMS1 [5], is also a
phone: +82-41-560-1424; fax: +82-41-564-3261; e-mail: yongjae@ tendon-driven robot. However, by introducing
koreatech.ac.kr). tension-amplification mechanisms, it accomplished high
Hansol Song, Yun-Soo Kim, Junsuk Yoon, Seong-Ho Yun, Jiwon Seo, control performance comparable to the conventional industrial
are with Korea University of Technology and Education (Koreatech), manipulators. An improved version of LIMS1, named
Cheonan-City, Rep. of Korea(e-mail: [email protected], LIMS2-AMBIDEX (LIMS2 for short), has a new wrist
[email protected],[email protected],dnstjdgh@koreatec
h.ac.kr, [email protected], [email protected]). mechanism that represents the Quaternion relationship [6]. It

978-1-5386-8094-0/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE 4145

 TABLE I
LIMS2-AMBIDEX SPECIFICATIONS
Items Specifications
7 DOF per arm
𝑅 𝐿 Size and shape
- Shoulder 3 DOF, elbow 1 DOF, wrist 3 DOF
1
𝑅1 𝐿 Arm moving part 2.63 kg
𝑅 𝐿1 - Wrist : 446 g, Forearm : 171 g, Elbow : 533 g
35°
Mass

300
𝐿4 - Upper arm (with wrist & elbow motors) :1,478 g
𝐿5 Shoulder : 4.17 kg
𝑅4 Shoulder pitch : -180 deg ~ 65 deg

80
𝐿6 𝐿
𝑅5 Shoulder roll : -190 deg ~ 2 deg
𝐿 𝐿9 Range of
Shoulder yaw : -95 deg ~ 170 deg

208
motion
𝐿10 Elbow : -170 deg ~ 5 deg
𝑅6 𝑅 (Right arm)
Wrist roll, pitch : -90 deg ~ 90 deg
90
𝑅 𝑅9
Wrist yaw : -300 deg ~ 300 deg
70

𝑅10
Shoulder roll, pitch : 499 deg/s
𝑅11 Shoulder yaw : 749 deg/s
(a) (b) Speed Elbow : 590 deg/s
Wrist roll, pitch : 1,179 deg/s
Fig. 2. Dimensions and joint placement of the LIMS2-AMBIDEX Wrist yaw : 1,634 deg/s

exhibits a wide range of motion and maximum-manipulability TABLE II

measure in the entire range of motion, which is a useful Gripper SPECIFICATIONS
property for fast and dexterous manipulation. Items Specifications
To develop a robot system for robot competitions, 1 DOF hand
Size and shape
numerous important functionalities such as mechanical and - 1DOF 22.5mm finger
control performance as well as system reliability and Whole hand part 208.3 g
Mass
scalability and convenient development framework are - Actuator : 82 g Body : 126.3 g
required. The DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC), funded by Speed Finger rotation : 46 rpm
the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and held
Peak Torque Finger rotation : 4.1 Nm
from 2012 to 2015, is one of the most popular robotic
competitions. Numerous articles including [7, 8] report the
efforts and lessons-learned from the DRC experience. The the wrist joints from Jt 𝐿/𝑅6 to Jt 𝐿/𝑅9 are coupled to exhibit
IROS Fan Robotic Challenge is a robot manipulation two DOFs. Thus, including the distal yaw joint Jt 𝐿/𝑅10 , each
competition where robots are required to manipulate the wrist has three DOFs. Consequently, each arm exhibits seven
official foldable fan as effectively and rapidly as feasible. Two DOFs. Tables I and II present the selected specifications of
main features will score during this process: a) time and b) LIMS2 and the gripper, respectively. As is evident here, it has
degree of opening and closing of the fan. The LIMS2 exhibits remarkably low mass and inertia, which are smaller than those
high speed and inherently safe characteristics suitable for the of human arms, and exhibits a wide range of motion. Thus, it
IROS Fan Robotic Challenge. For this competition, a gripper can assume more diverse postures than a human arm can. The
was specially developed to manipulate the foldable fan rapidly gripper has a one-DOF finger, which can be regulated by
by using its inertia. Figure 1 shows the LIMS2 and the reference angle with the adjustable maximum torque.
developed gripper. In addition, a software framework for
LIMS2 was developed in ROS, enabling real-time control and B. Shoulder Design
convenient maintenance and expansion. Consequentially, the Each shoulder exhibits three DOFs and a wide range of
entire motion for the Fan Robotic Challenge Phase I Modality motion similar to human-like movements. As shown in Fig. 3
B required 1.05 s, which is substantially faster than most (c), the one-DOF actuators are stacked on the body frame in
humans’ manipulation time. the order of the pitch, yaw, and roll joints. To prevent
This paper is organized as follows: Section II describes the singularity near the frequently used configuration, the pitch
mechanical design of the improved robot LIMS2-AMBIDEX joint has 35° of inclination (Figs. 2 (b) and 3 (c)).
and its properties and performance. In Section III, the software The shoulder actuators were designed considering weight
framework for high-speed manipulation and the procedures of and inertia minimization, back-drivability and low friction,
motions for the fan manipulation are explained. Section IV and the convenience of placement and harnessing of the
presents the experimental results, and Section V concludes electronics. The motors were newly customized to reduce the
with the summary and future work. rotor inertia. They can exert a torque equivalent to those of
LIMS1; however, the rotor inertia is six times smaller than the
II. MECHANICAL DESIGN
previous one. Each motor has a 10:1 low-backlash planetary
A. Specifications of LIMS2 gearhead. As shown in Figs. 3 (a) and (b), the capstan-drive
Figure 2 illustrates the kinematic structure of LIMS2. Each mechanism provides additional reduction without increasing
arm has 10 joints. However, the motions of Jt 𝐿/𝑅4 and Jt 𝐿/𝑅5 backlash and frictional loss. The shoulder contains four
additional actuators (three for the three-DOF wrist and one for
at the elbow are coupled and exhibit one DOF, and similarly,
the one-DOF elbow), which aids in decreasing the rotational

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 Yaw actuator Cooling fan
30 Roll actuator 5 motor
drivers
Pitch actuator

(a)
4 Actuators
for elbow and wrist

Body frame (a)

(b) (c)
Fig. 3 Shoulder mechanisms. (a) Top view and (b) front view of
Wrist Wrist yaw
shoulder actuator, (c) 3-DOF shoulder composed of three identical axis
joint mechanisms. Wrist
Actuator Fan
Coupling wires
Tendon for
elbow flexion Actuating Table
finger forks
Tendons for Tendon for (b)
wrist actuation elbow
extension

Cross-roller bearings
Fig. 4 Elbow mechanism (c)

Cross roller Fig. 6 Gripper mechanism: (a) an initial ideas, (b) final model, and (c)
Bearing implemented gripper

Planetary
importantly, the resultant joint stiffness is amplified by a
gears quadratic order of the winding, which yields a high control
Sun gear Universal
joints
performance. The wires for the wrist actuation (red lines) pass
around the pulleys at the two centers of the rolling joint, which
decouples the wire movement from the elbow motion. For the
detailed description, refer to [5]. Although the fundamental
Input drum
concept is similar to that of LIMS1, numerous improvements
have been incorporated. For example, four cross roller
Yaw-
Roll- Pitch- Roll+ Yaw+
bearings are used to increase the strength and torsional
Pitch+
(a) (b) (c) stiffness of the elbow. The frames were designed to resemble
an exoskeleton in order to contain complex
Fig. 5 Wrist mechanism, (a) paths of roll and pitch wire pairs, (b) wire tendon-transmitting mechanisms without interference or
routing and a planetary gear for additional reduction, (c) range of
damage.
motion of the wrist by roll and pitch motions.
D. Wrist Design
inertia of the whole arm. As shown in Fig. 3 (a), each shoulder The wrist exhibits three DOFs, as mentioned in II.A.
actuator has a 30 mm diameter hole for electric cables, and Figure 5 (a) shows the two-DOF part of the wrist with roll and
five motor drivers are compactly attached on the yaw frame pitch actuation wire pairs. It is the extended mechanism of the
and can be conveniently cooled by a single cooling fan. one-DOF rolling joint described in the previous subsection, to
C. Elbow Design exhibit two DOFs. Rather than the circular-contact shapes of
The elbow joint has a one-DOF rolling mechanism, the one-DOF rolling joint, a unique three-link parallel
wherein two coupling wires (pink and orange lines in Fig. 4) mechanism approximates two-dimensional rolling motion
cause pure rolling between the two circular-contact shapes between two hemispherical surfaces. By actuating the two
without slip. The flexion wire (upper green line) and extension wire-pairs roll+, roll- and pitch+, pitch-, the wrist can be bent
wire (lower green line) come from the motor assembly (blue in any direction. Figure 5(b) shows a section view of the
dotted area in Fig. 3 (c)) and wind around the pulleys at the mechanism for the distal yaw motion. The motion of the wire
forearm and the upper arm multiple times. Therefore, the wire pair yaw+, yaw- is transmitted to the sun gear at the distal end
tension is amplified by the number of winding. More of the wrist through two universal joints and a shaft. The
planetary gears produce additional reduction ratio. As shown

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 y
Workspace of right arm
y Workspace of left arm
x Common workspace
x
End End End
effector effector effector

LIMS Human

(a) (b)
Fig. 8 Dexterous workspace with respect to forward EE direction (a)
workspace of left arm (green dots), right arm (red dots), and both arms
(blue dot), (b) Common workspace of both arms
Fig. 7 Comparison of effective masses of LIMS1, LIMS2, and
human arm (top left: configuration for effective mass the displacements of the two antagonistic actuation wires, 𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡
calculation) and 𝑙𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 , have an identical magnitude albeit opposite
in Fig.5 (c), the roll and pitch motion have the range  90°, and directions, as indicated in the following:
the yaw motion has  300° in arbitrary directions without 𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 = −𝑙𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 = 𝑛𝑤𝑠𝑖𝑛
𝜃
, (1)
singular configurations.
E. Gripper Design where 𝑛 and 𝑤 denote the number of wire windings and the
distance between the two antagonistic pulley centers,
At the initial stage of concept generation, several respectively. For the elbow joint shown in Fig. 4, n and w were
candidates for the gripper were considered. Figure 6 (a) shows set to 6 mm and 80 mm, respectively. Owing to this symmetric
three initial concepts. The left mechanism is composed of wire motion, the joint can be actuated with a single motor
multiple layers of holding structures. It covers the bottom part without slack or excessive tension. The maximum torque
of the fan, and when the fan opens, the layered structure 𝜏1𝐷𝑂𝐹 𝑚𝑎𝑥 and the torsional stiffness 𝑘1𝐷𝑂𝐹 of the one-DOF
rotates according to the opening of the fan, continuously joint mechanism are obtained as follows:
covering the outside of the fan. The model at the center of Fig.
6 (a) has two fixed forks and two actuating fingers; thus, it can 𝑛𝑤 𝜃
𝜏1𝐷𝑂𝐹 𝑚𝑎𝑥 = ( 𝑐𝑜𝑠 ) 𝑇𝑚𝑎𝑥 , (2)
hold the fan securely. The rightmost model has two fixed forks
and one actuating finger, which satisfies the requirement of 𝑛2 𝑤2 𝜃
𝜅1𝐷𝑂𝐹 = ( 𝑐𝑜𝑠 ) 𝑘𝑤𝑖𝑟𝑒 , (3)
the stable force closing without interfering with the opening of
the fan and also exhibits the simplest structure. Therefore, It is noteworthy that the stiffness can be amplified by the
considering the weight, simplicity, and holding capability, the quadratic order of n. The same concept can be extended to the
last concept was selected. two-DOF bending joint for the wrist, as shown in Fig.5 (a).
As shown in Fig. 6 (b), the gripper has one DOF with a The relationship between the bending pose (𝜙 𝜃) and the
simple shape; however, it was developed by referring to a motion of the wire pair (𝑙𝑟 𝑙𝑝 ) can be obtained as
humans’ rapid fan opening motion. It is designed to fulfill 𝜃
purposes of grasping, opening, and closing the fan. It has a flat 𝑙𝑟 = 𝑙𝑟 + = −𝑙𝑟 − = 𝑛𝑤 sin 𝜙 sin , (4)
bottom with two thin fixed forks to tightly contact with a table 𝜃
surface and to lift the fan on the table using the forks. The 𝑙𝑝 = 𝑙𝑝 + = −𝑙𝑝 − = 𝑛𝑤 cos 𝜙 sin , (5)
actuating finger can grasp the fan’s outer guard. The length of
the finger was properly determined in order not to hinder the which illustrates that the motions of the wire pairs are also
motion of the ribs and leaves. The forks were designed to be completely symmetrical. Here, n and w for the wrist are 4 and
replaceable in case of damage during the manipulation. Figure 69 mm, respectively. Similar to (3), the stiffness of the
6 (c) shows the implemented gripper. In order to use the inertia two-DOF joint is also amplified by the quadratic order of n.
of the fan when opening and closing it, the axis of the wrist For a detailed explanation, refer to [5]. One of the unique
way and the pivot of the fan are designed to be close to each properties of the wrist is that the motions of the wire pair
other. As shown in the rightmost picture of Fig. 6 (c), the pivot (𝑙𝑟 𝑙𝑝 ) directly represent the quaternion values of the joint
of the fan (red dotted line) is placed near the yaw axis of the orientation. The wrist orientation can be represented by the
wrist (blue dotted line). unit quaternion as follows:

F. Mechanical Properties and Performance 𝑞𝑄 =< 𝜂𝑄 𝜖𝑄 > = < 𝜂 𝑟 𝑝 0 >, (6)

As introduced in [5], the tension amplification mechanisms 𝑙𝑟 𝑙𝑝
where 𝑟 = , 𝑝= , and 𝜂 = √𝑟 + 𝑝 .
are applied to the elbow and the wrist to increase the stiffness 𝑛𝑤 𝑛𝑤
and strength of the joints. In the case of the one-DOF elbow, For further explanation, refer to [6].

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 LIMS2 Planner Node
Layer4
- Application

Hand Manager Node Arm Manager Node

Layer3
- Application(periodic)

Shared Memory RS485 Interface Node EtherCAT Interface Node

Semaphore (Neuromeka) (Neuromeka)
LIMS2 Layer2
Simulation Node - Hardware abstraction

Inter process communication

(Rviz, Rqt)
ROS TCP/IP (Topic, Service)
USB to RS485 Interface
Motor Driver
Qt GUI Callback signal
Control signal
Motor Driver Motor Controller Switch Switch

Bunch of simulation data Motor Controller Layer1

- Physical

Fig. 9 Software Framework for LIMS2

As aforementioned, LIMS2 has customized motors with a layer (Layer 4), a manager layer (Layer 3), a hardware
substantially smaller rotor inertia (28.7 gcm2) than that of the abstraction layer (Layer 2), and a physical layer (Layer 1).
previous robot LIMS1 (181gcm2). It significantly influences Each layer contains one or multiple nodes and other real-time
the effective mass of the arms. Figure 7 illustrates the effective processes or drivers.
mass of the end-effector at the pose shown at the top left of the Layer 4 has LIMS2 Planner Node, which makes a
figure for several cases: LIMS1 with/without motor rotors, decision for an assigned task and intermittently transmits
LIMS2 with/without motor rotors, and human arms. As shown commands to the Manager Nodes. This planner node can be
in the figure, the effective masses of LIMS1 with and without replaced according to the tasks. The most important role of
motor rotors (solid blue curve and dashed blue curve) exhibit a the planner node for the Fan Robotic Challenge is to manage
substantial difference, which implies that the rotor inertia can the motion sequence of each arm and to transmit the target
be the most dominant mass factor in lightweight mechanisms motions to the managers at the appropriate time. That is, the
because the rotor inertia is amplified by a quadratic order of
planer node transmits information including the motion type
the gear ratio. However, LIMS2 with the improved motors
(e.g. point-to-point or linear in Cartesian space), acceleration
(dashed green curve) has a smaller effective mass than the
human arm (red curve). and deceleration time, moving time, and desired joint angles
or end-effector pose. Moreover, after the moving time, it
Figure 8 (a) shows the workspace of the LIMS2 with the transmits the next information according to the task
end-effector oriented toward the front. Because of the compact procedure, as shown in Fig. 10.
size and large range of motion of the wrist, each arm has a Layer 3 has two Manager Nodes, Arm Manager and Hand
large workspace. Moreover, the robot has a large common Manager, which are operated in real time. Because most of
area of workspace of the two arms, as shown in Fig. 8 (b); this the algorithms requiring periodic calculation are operated in
is indispensable for two-arm manipulations. this layer, each manager node has a real-time loop; the Arm
III. CONTROL SYSTEM FOR HIGH-SPEED MANIPULATION manager and Hand manager have 3-ms and 10-ms loops,
respectively. Each manager node calculates the forward and
The control system for high-speed manipulation was inverse kinematics, Jacobian, motion trajectories, etc. based
developed based on Robot Operating System (ROS). ROS is on the commands received from the planner node and the
a software framework, which is already widely in use in the information received from the hardware abstraction layer.
field of robotics and is a useful middleware in Linux for Hardware abstraction layer, Layer 2, contains Shared
developing robots. Because the ROS can manage large Memory and Semaphore. Because the TCP/IP protocol
control systems by multiple distributed modular processes provided by ROS can cause a delay or malfunction, Shared
(termed as nodes) and provides convenient communication Memory, which is one of the IPC (Inter Process
tools between the nodes, the system can be conveniently Communication) regulated by the kernel, is used to manage
maintained and expanded. In order to achieve real-time the data shared between the manager nodes. Simultaneously,
capability, the real-time development framework Xenomai a Semaphore is used in conjunction with the shared memory
and the high-speed communication protocol EtherCAT are to avoid sync problems. There are two interface nodes
used as it was necessary to transmit commands to 17-axes operated in real-time loops, EtherCAT Interface Node and
manipulators at high speed. RS485 Interface Node; these are used in conjunction with the
A. Software Framework for LIMS2 real-time operating system (Xenomai) to ensure the rapid
Figure 9 illustrates the software framework for LIMS2. movement and correct control cycles of the Manager Nodes.
The framework is composed of four layers; an application These interface nodes play the role of the bridge between the

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 Pick up: 0.56s Pick up: 0.56s

Push

2. Vertically standing
&Ready for opening up

Pick up: 0.56s Pick up: 0.56s

Fan open: 0.98s Fan open: 0.98s
Fan close: 1.43s

1. Grasping operation 3. Opening

&Ready for closing

2.19s
Pick up: 0.56s Pick up: 0.56s
Fan open: 0.98s Fan open: 0.98s
Fan close: 1.43s Fan close: 1.43s
Put down: 2.19s

5. Laying on the table 4. Closing operation

(a)

(a)

2. Vertically standing
&Ready for opening up

1. Grasping operation 3. Opening

&Ready for closing

0.12s

5. Laying on the table 4. Closing operation

(b)

Fig. 10 (a) Two-hand fan manipulation procedure (b) one-hand fan

manipulation procedure
( b)
actual hardware at the physical layer (Layer 1) and the
manager algorithms using idealized hardware data. Fig. 11 Snapshots of experiment. (a) 1-hand manipulation (b) 2-hand
As shown in the connections between Layers 2 and 3 (the manipulation
thick red line), one can switch between the simulation and the
gripper's two forks to help open the fan. By pushing the fan
actual robot operation without modifying the system
diagonally with the dummy hand as shown in Fig. 10(a) with
architecture. Therefore, the users can conveniently examine
the assistance of the gravity, the fan is opened. To close it, the
the feasibility of the robot motions prior to the actual robot gripper leans forward, and the dummy hand pushes back the
operation. ribs of the fan along the arc curve following the fan shape.
B. Motion Generation for Fan Manipulation Finally, the robot places the closed fan on the table.
Two types of motions of the fan manipulation were The one-hand manipulation has an identical procedure
implemented; two-hand manipulation and one-hand except for the opening and closing motions. As shown in Fig.
manipulation. Figure 10(a) shows the procedure for the 10(b), these motions are conducted by using only the gripper
two-hand manipulation. It was designed to pick up the fan on the right arm. The wrist rapidly rotates to the forward and
securely and to open and close it using both the hands, with the reverse directions as shown in steps 3 and 4 in the figure.
aid of gravitational force. Firstly, the gripper of the right arm Owing to the inertia of the fan and the rapid wrist motion,
and the dummy hand of the left arm stay marginally in contact complete opening and closing are achieved. To reduce the
with the table, and the fan lies between the two grippers. The time for the whole procedure, the target pose and motion
dummy hand pushes the fan to the gripper, and then, the profile of each step were carefully selected considering the
gripper holds the fan using the two forks and a finger. minimum distance of the trajectory and the efficient use of the
Subsequently, the right arm raises the fan vertically, and the lightweight and high-speed characteristics of LIMS2.
dummy hand on the left arm shifts to the position between the

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 speed of the wrist yaw varies significantly from approximately
300 to 800 ms. The first positive peak and the second negative
peak of the wrist yaw speed indicate the opening movement.
The third negative peak value (from 700 ms to 800 ms)
induces the closing motion. To close the fan completely by
applying high acceleration to the fan, almost the maximum
speed of the yaw joint was used in this motion. The fastest
angular velocity in this section is 1400°/s. As shown in Fig.
12(b), the fastest instantaneous velocity of the end-effector is
3.2 m/s.

V. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK

(a)
This paper presented the mechanical design, hardware
properties, and control system design of a dual-arm robot
system for high-speed object manipulations for participating
in the IROS Fan Robotic Challenge. The developed robot,
named LIMS2-AMBIDEX, is the improved version of a
low-inertia high-stiffness manipulator LIMS2. The overall
design and the improved actuators and mechanisms were
explained in detail, and the software framework developed
considering real-time performance and expandability was
introduced. Because of its remarkably low arm-inertia, the
robot could complete the whole manipulation task
successfully in 1.05 s, which is considered faster than a similar
(b) manipulation by most humans.
Fig. 12. Target speed of robot in joint space and Cartesian space of right For further work, the research on the dynamic human
arm for one-hand manipulation. (a) Speed of each joint in joint space. motions such as dart throwing or catching fast objects will be
(b) Speed of end-effector in Cartesian space. conducted and applied to the robot. In addition, a high DOF
Particularly, the redundant DOFs of the arms were set to waist mechanism is undergoing development in order to
minimize the motion of the relatively heavy upper arms. increase the workspace and enable safe and agile whole body
motions.
The generated operation time was 1.05 s, which is the
elapsed time from the moment of the first contact of the ACKNOWLEDGMENT
dummy hand with the fan to the moment that the fan leaves the
gripper. It is significantly faster than the two-hand The authors would like to thank NAVER Labs
manipulation and most humans’ manipulation. Corporation for their support.

IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULT REFERENCES

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uses both the hands for the opening and closing, it could 2003.
perform the tasks stably regardless of the fan condition or [2] Y. Yamakawa, A. Namiki, and M. Ishikawa, “Dexterous manipulation
disturbance. As shown in Fig. 11(a), when opening and of a rhythmic gymnastics ribbon with constant, high-speed motion of a
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pp. 1896-1900, 2013.
simultaneously, the dummy hand of the left arm pushes the [3] S. Kim, A. Shukla, and A. Billard, “Catching Object in Flight,” IEEE
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