Validation of Cooperative Shared-Control Concepts for Large Vehicle-Manipulators

Abstract

This paper presents the experimental validation and comparison of shared-control concepts for large vehicle-manipulators with a hydraulic robotic arm. The operation of such systems is difficult and a supporting automation can ease the psychological and physiological load on the human operator. The validation is performed with a real-time simulation of the vehicle-manipulator, with a graphical user interface and with the help of a force feedback joystick. The evaluation is done based on the deviation from the ground truth of the manipulator reference. Additionally, personal questionnaires are used to access the acceptance of the assistance system. The main advantage of this concept is that the automation does not need the reference of the manipulator, which facilitates a later real-life implementation easier. Therefore, this paper has three contributions: the validation of a novel shared-control concept for a vehicle-manipulator. Additionally, a practical tuning procedure is presented, in which the test persons adjust the controller parameters according to their preferences which leads to better results. Finally, the shared-control concept is extended with a supporting force feedback on the haptic user interface. These concepts are validated and compared with eachother on a test-bench in which the advantages of an active force feedback on the joystick are shown.