CAREER: Haptic Exploration and Modeling of Unknown Environments

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Using force and tactile (haptic) feedback, humans are able to accomplish complex exploration and manipulation tasks in unstructured environments, even when other sensory modes are limited. However, we cannot reach environments that are remote in space and/or scale, such as outer space, under bodies of water, and inside the human body. The proposed research activity will harness the extraordinary ability of human exploration through novel telemanipulation systems. The intellectual merit is that controls, human factors, and modeling techniques will be used to develop versatile, practical telemanipulators that provide appropriate haptic feedback to the operator and automatically generate detailed haptic models of explored environments. A set of crucial telemanipulation issues will be addressed: (1) sensor/actuator asymmetry, which is necessary for practical implementation in many applications, (2) the roles of level and degrees of freedom of haptic feedback during teleoperated haptic exploration, and (3) the design and control of virtual fixtures that assist in teleoperated exploration, while not interfering with the operator's perception of the remote environment. The broader impacts of this work are safety for humans working in hazardous environments and improved health care through robot-assisted surgery. Specific education goals are to create haptic laboratories and public displays that use the sense of touch to improve scientific understanding and interest in technology