Design of a force reflecting master arm and master hand using pneumatic actuators

Abstract

A lot of researches have been done in the teleoperation field. In order to control a robot from remote site, simple position teaching devices were developed followed by the advanced force feedback devices. Most of the force feedback master devices are as big as the slave robot and equipped with heavy actuators. A new teleoperation device is presented in this paper. A simple exo-skeleton type master arm is designed based on the kinematic analysis of the human arm. For force reflection, pneumatic actuators are used. This device is integrated with KIST Humanoid robot as well as 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 was also developed with similar design to the master arm. These force reflecting master arm and hand are very light and compact so that a human can easily wear while he feels the same force as the robot does while giving position command to the slave robot.