Biological grippers can inspire the development of a new class of versatile soft grippers in agrorobotics and beyond.

Purpose: Interaction plays a significant role in robotics and it is considered in all levels of hardware and software control design. Several models have been introduced and developed for controlling robotic interaction. This study aims to address and analyze the state-of-the-art on robotic interaction control by which it is revealed that both practical and theoretical issues have to be faced when designing a controller. Design/methodology/approach: In this review, a critical analysis of the control algorithms developed for robotic interaction tasks is presented. A hierarchical classification of distributed control levels from general aspects to specific control algorithms is also illustrated. Hence, two main control paradigms are discussed together with control approaches and architectures. The challenges of each control approach are discussed and the relevant solutions are presented. Findings: This review presents an evolvement trend of interaction control theories and technologies over time. In addition, it highlights the pros and cons of each control approaches with addressing how the flaws of one control approach were compensated by emerging another control methods. Originality/value: This review provides the robotic controller designers to select the right architecture and accordingly design the appropriate control algorithm for any given interactive task and with respect to the technology implemented in robotic manipulator.

Purpose: This paper aims to propose an innovative kinematic control algorithm for redundant robotic manipulators. The algorithm takes advantage of a bio-inspired approach. Design/methodology/approach: A simplified two-degree-of-freedom model is presented to handle kinematic redundancy in the x-y plane; an extension to three-dimensional tracking tasks is presented as well. A set of sample trajectories was used to evaluate the performances of the proposed algorithm. Findings: The results from the simulations confirm the continuity and accuracy of generated joint profiles for given end-effector trajectories as well as algorithm robustness, singularity and self-collision avoidance. Originality/value: This paper shows how to control a redundant robotic arm by applying human upper arm-inspired concept of inter-joint dependency.