Abstract:To address the problems of low safety, poor reliability, and insufficient motion compatibility in human collaboration with supernumerary robotic limbs, this study proposes a collision detection and vibrotactile feedback control strategy to enhance the safety and reliability of human-robot interaction. Firstly, a kinematic model of the cable-driven SRLs is formulated based on the Denavit-Hartenberg method and the constant curvature principle. The workspace is analyzed using the Monte Carlo method. Then, a simplified bounding box model of the SRLs is constructed, and a minimum-distance-based collision detection method is proposed and verified through simulations involving potential collisions between the dual arms of the SRLs. To enable detection and feedback of contact force and position during collisions, a collision detection device based on pressure sensors is designed. The static contact model of the SRLs is studied and calibrated to realize accurate estimation of contact force and location. Finally, a safety control strategy based on vibrotactile feedback is proposed. An experimental prototype platform is developed, and multiple experiments are conducted to validate the proposed kinematic model, collision detection method, and safety control strategy. The results demonstrate that the cable-driven SRLs exhibit good motion performance within the workspace. The proposed collision detection algorithm can detect contact force and collision location within 0.12 seconds, and the vibrotactile glove enables intuitive perception of contact force and safe reactive control. Effective active obstacle avoidance can be achieved within 0.7 seconds, verifying the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed collision detection and vibrotactile feedback control strategy for supernumerary robotic limbs.