Task-oriented Robot Control User Interface Designer for Cable-Driven Soft Robots Without Kinematic Models

Abstract

This paper introduces a method to allow casual users to create task-oriented control user interfaces (UIs) for cable-driven soft robots without prior knowledge, and the extra time and labor costs in measurements or calibration. The task space created by the proposed method is that it no longer must be physics-based, which provides more freedom, especially for casual users. Any control UI created previously could be used to create new UIs. We also develop a graphical user interface (GUI) implementing the proposed method for a feasibility evaluation. Practical cases that use the proposed GUI to create control UIs for particular tasks of a cable-driven soft robot arm system have been investigated. Finally, we conduct a concise user evaluation to test the usability of the proposed method for casual users.