Compliant Control for Robots: Impedance and Variable Stiffness

This lecture covers the concept of compliant control for robots, focusing on impedance control and variable stiffness. It explains how impedance control imposes dynamic behavior on robot-environment interaction and how stiffness and damping parameters affect the system's response to external forces. The lecture also discusses the importance of setting the direction of impedance and the modeling of state-dependent varying stiffness. Examples include teaching robots to adjust stiffness for tasks like pouring a drink and lighting a match, emphasizing the need for variable stiffness profiles. The goal is to enable robots to interact safely and adaptively with their environment.