One Interface, Many Robots: Unified Real-Time Low-Level Motion Planning for Collaborative Arms

2026-04-09

AI Summary

This study addresses the lack of a unified and portable real-time low-level motion planning interface for heterogeneous collaborative robotic arms. To bridge this gap, the authors propose a lightweight and flexible real-time end-effector trajectory control interface built upon the WinGs Operating Studio middleware. The approach integrates n-th-order polynomial interpolation with a quadratic programming (QP) solver to generate smooth, continuously differentiable trajectories that enable precise control over position, velocity, and acceleration. For the first time, real-time low-level motion planning across multiple brands of collaborative arms is achieved under a single interface, featuring on-the-fly replanning capability and cross-platform compatibility. Experimental validation through offline drawing, dynamic grasping, and cross-arm teleoperation demonstrates significant improvements in system generality, deployment efficiency, and usability.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Motion and Path Planning
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Replanning and Plan Repair
• Humans and AI: Human-Aware Planning and Behavior Prediction

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Experiences and lessons learnt from Web-based algorithms and system deployments
• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Efficient manipulation of static and dynamic Web-related graphs

Abstract

This paper proposes a common interface for real-time low-level motion planning of collaborative robotic arms, aimed at enabling broader applicability and improved portability across heterogeneous hardware platforms. In previous work, we introduced WinGs Operating Studio (WOS), a middleware solution that abstracts diverse robotic components into uniform software resources and provides a broad suite of language-agnostic APIs. This paper specifically focuses on its minimal yet flexible interface for real-time end-effector trajectory control. By employing an n-degree polynomial interpolator in conjunction with a quadratic programming solver, the proposed method generates smooth, continuously differentiable trajectories with precise position, velocity, and acceleration profiles. We validate our approach in three distinct scenarios. First, in an offline demonstration, a collaborative arm accurately draws various geometric shapes on paper. Second, in an interruptible, low-frequency re-planning setting, a robotic manipulator grasps a dynamic object placed on a moving mobile robot. Finally, we conducted a teleoperation experiment in which one robotic arm controlled another to perform a series of dexterous manipulations, confirming the proposed method's reliability, versatility, and ease of use.

Problem

• collaborative robots
• real-time motion planning
• unified interface
• low-level control
• hardware portability

Innovation

• real-time motion planning
• collaborative robots
• polynomial interpolation
• quadratic programming
• hardware abstraction