heal.abstract |
This paper presents a novel concept for teleoperation using direct human hand(s) actions which we called 'the hidden robot' concept. The proposed teleoperation scheme is composed of three main components: the operator/computer loop, the execution loop and between them the bilateral transformation modules linked by the communication channel. Within the operator/computer master loop, the operator performs what we call a 'virtual task', without being constrained by the slave robot. At this stage, the bilateral transformation layer is in charge of extracting, at the low level, pertinent parameters from the virtual task and transforming them onto robot control signals. The execution loop performs control of the slave robot(s) to achieve the desired task, described by the virtual one. At this stage, the transformation layer extracts pertinent data to provide feedback when possible and needed. It also makes sure that the task is being performed correctly in the real site; otherwise, it takes necessary recovery procedures or informs the operator to procede in a different way. We will describe in detail each component, highlighting the originalities of our approach. We will also present the experiment performed by applying this concept to long-distance, simultaneous teleoperation of four slave robots with different kinematics and situated at different locations in France and in Japan. The experimental task consisted of assembling a four-piece puzzle. All the robots had to perform the same task in parallel. We will discuss the experimental results presented in this paper, concering long-distance teleoperated robot control and round-trip communication time delay. The experiment demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed scheme and gave guidelines related to the direct use of the operator hand, within an intermediate representation, as a guide for task execution. |
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