Opening Doors and Drawers by a UR5 Robot with Force Control

Robots capable of automatically opening and closing articulated objects such as doors and drawers have broad potential applications in households, healthcare facilities, and industrial environments. Drawers can be opened and closed by pulling or pushing along the axis of translation, while doors can be opened by rotating around the axis of rotation. When a robot’s motion path deviates from the ideal trajectory required for opening and closing, its action can cause various damages due to excessive lateral forces. In this paper, we address the problem of force control in robotic manipulation of doors and drawers. The goal of force control is to minimize lateral forces when opening and closing doors and drawers. At the same time, position control is performed in the direction of the ideal trajectory. A force-torque sensor attached to a robot can monitor all forces in 3D space. We conduct experiments on opening and closing the doors and drawers using a UR5 robot with and without force control, and analyze the force response while monitoring the success of the actions performed. With this study, we provide insight into the usefulness of force control in opening and closing doors and drawers by a robot.