Human-machine cooperative telemanipulation with motion and force scaling using task-oriented virtual tool dynamics

Abstract

In this paper, we propose an alternative control algorithm for a scaled telemanipulation system using the task-oriented virtual tool dynamics. The major contribution of this paper is a realization of a new human-machine cooperative telemanipulation system with the motion and the force scaling based on the semi-autonomous virtual tool dynamics. The aim of the proposed virtual tool approach is to realize the ideal relationship for the human-oriented collaboration between a human operator and a controlled robot in a human-robot-environment system as many actual mechanical tools provide to us in human-tool-environment systems. In the proposed cooperative system, a telemanipulator is controlled so that it has semi-autonomous virtual tool dynamics designed appropriately for a given task. It assists a human operator semi-autonomously during the task as if it were a real mechanical tool and improves the maneuverability and the efficiency in the teleoperation. In this paper, the task-oriented control algorithm for the cooperative scaled telemanipulation, in which we can specify the motion and the force scaling ratio between the master and the slave manipulator freely, is developed. The stability is analyzed based on the passivity of the resultant system, and the total stability is guaranteed for a human operator and a passive environment with unknown dynamics. The algorithm is experimentally applied to a telemanipulator. The result illustrate the validity of the system.