Human-robot integrated teleoperation

Abstract

A great deal of research have been done on robot path generation, including automatic path planning and teaching/playback. Teleoperation is commonly used in order to control a robot from a remote site when dealing with an unknown environment. To increase the accuracy and the reliability of teleoperation, close interaction between the human and the slave robot is required. Many force feedback devices and control architectures have been investigated for this purpose However, most of the force feedback master devices are as big as the slave robot and equipped with heavy actuators. The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) is developing a humanoid robot which has two arms (9 d.o.f. for each), two hands (4 d.o.f each), a waist (3 d.o.f.) and a neck (2 d.o.f.). An automatic path planner which takes advantage of redundancy is also developed. However, it requires huge computational power and time to obtain the optimal solution. For some very complex tasks or when a known interacting with environment, the robot path can be generated very easily and accurately by human teaching, hence the automatic path planner is not required. Human motion is analyzed using sensors and converted to the robot joint angles. For tasks interacting with an unknown environment, teleoperation with force feedback is more useful. A simple exoskeleton-type master arm is designed based on the kinematic analysis of the human arm. Pneumatic actuators are used for force reflection, This device is integrated with the KIST humanoid robot as well as the graphic simulator, so that the master arm can be used for teaching the robot or as the virtual reality device integrated with the graphic simulator. A force-reflecting master hand is also developed. The force-reflecting master arm and hand are very light and compact so that a human can easily wear them while he feels the same force as the robot does, giving position commands to the slave robot.