In order to investigate the joint torque-based Cartesian impedance control strategies and the influence of compensations for friction, an experimental study on the identification of friction parameters, friction compensation and the Cartesian impedance control are developed for the harmonic drive robot, by using the sensors available in the joint itself. Different from the conventional Cartesian impedance control schemes which are mostly based on the robot end force/torque information, five joint torque-based Cartesian impedance control schemes are considered, including the force-based schemes in Cartesian/joint space, the position-based schemes in Cartesian/joint space and the stiffness control. Four of them are verified by corresponding experiments with/without friction compensations. By comparison, it is found that the force-based impedance control strategy is more suitable than the position-based one for the robot based on joint torque feedback and the friction has even a positive effect on Cartesian impedance control stability.
