Force-Guidance of a Compliant Omnidirectional Non-Holonomic Platform Julien Fr´ emy a , Fran¸ cois Ferland a , Michel Lauria b , Fran¸cois Michaud a a Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering, Universit´ e de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Qu´ ebec Canada. b University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland (HES-SO), Geneva, Switzerland. Abstract Physical guidance is a natural interaction capability that would be beneficial for mobile robots. However, placing force sensors at specific locations on the robot limits where physical interaction can occur. This paper presents an approach that uses torque data from four compliant steerable wheels of an omnidirectional non-holonomic mobile platform, to respond to physical commands given by a human. The use of backdrivable and torque-controlled elastic actuators for active steering of this platform intrinsically provides the capability of perceiving applied forces directly from its locomotion mecha- nism. In this paper, we integrate this capability into a control architecture that allows users to force-guide the platform with shared-control ability, i.e., having the platform being guided by the user while avoiding obstacles and collisions. Results using a real platform demonstrate that user’s intent can be estimated from the compliant steerable wheels, and used to guide the platform while taking nearby obstacles into consideration. Keywords: Physical Human-Robot Interaction, Force and Tactile Sensing, Elastic Actuators. 1. Introduction Whether it is for helping a robot being stuck somewhere, positioning it at a specific location, directing it to follow a desired path or simply for pushing away a robot that comes too close to a person, having the capability to physically guide a mobile platform in natural settings would certainly be useful. Humans often use direct physical interactions as a natural way of moving and guiding people, by holding their hands or shoulders for instance. Preprint submitted to Robotics and Autonomous Systems January 26, 2014