ERI: Tool Grasping Compliance and Stability of Underactuated Hands in Model-Mediated Telemanipulation

该奖项全部或部分由2021年美国救援计划法案（公法117-2）资助。该工程研究启动（ERI）资助支持将贡献与制造过程相关的新知识的研究，促进科学进步，促进国家繁荣。机器人操纵器以高精度和可重复性而闻名。它们已被广泛用于定义明确和完全自动化的工业环境。然而，特别的、高度不确定的和复杂的操纵任务仍然需要现场人员的存在和协助。许多此类任务会带来危险和挑战性的环境，例如在大流行期间的工厂运营。该项目旨在通过使他们的多功能和灵巧的远程操作操作任务的能力，赋予劳动力。一个新的模型介导的远程操纵框架将开发的劳动力，扩大他们的身体接触，他们的动手操作的灵活性，他们的态势感知智能，从本地到远程站点。这些先进的远程操作技术将对社会和经济产生重大影响，有助于为劳动力提供安全的制造工作环境。从教育的角度来看，该项目通过激励和培养服务不足社区的学生在高中和大学阶段从事科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）职业，促进工程教育的多样性。该项目旨在开发增强的远程操作方法，以弥补目前在远程操作操作任务中使用抓握工具的差距，例如，用握式螺丝刀紧固螺钉。本计画的主要研究目的是探讨力控制造作业中工具抓取的顺应性与稳定性，并探讨其在模型介导遥操作中的应用。首先，开发了一个框架，用于估计欠驱动机器人手的工具抓合规矩阵，使用手传感器（关节角度和本体感觉）和腕部安装的力和扭矩传感器的组合反馈。然后，估计的顺应性被用来推断抓取状态和稳定性，并开发新的力控制策略。最后，工具抓取信息被纳入模型介导的遥操作设计和实现一种新的抓取通知虚拟夹具触觉辅助。因此，可以为用户驱动的远程操作操作任务提供完整的解决方案。该项目得到了机器人项目跨部门基础研究的支持，由工程局（ENG）和计算机与信息科学与工程局（CISE）共同管理和资助该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响进行评估，被认为值得支持审查标准。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).This Engineering Research Initiation (ERI) grant supports research that will contribute new knowledge related to a manufacturing process, promoting the progress of science, and advancing national prosperity. Robot manipulators are known for high precision and repeatability. They have been widely used in well-defined and fully automated industrial settings. However, ad-hoc, highly uncertain, and complex manipulation tasks still require on-site presence and assistance from human crew. Many such tasks present hazardous and challenging environments, such as in the case of factory operations during a pandemic. This project aims to empower the workforce by enabling their versatile and dexterous capabilities for remotely operated manipulation tasks. A novel model-mediated telemanipulation framework will be developed for the workforce, to extend their physical reach, their hands-on manipulation dexterity, and their situational awareness intelligence, from local to a remote site. These advanced telemanipulation technologies will have substantial impact on society and the economy, helping facilitate safe manufacturing working environments for the workforce. From an educational perspective, this project promotes diversity in engineering education by inspiring and preparing students in under-served communities for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers at the high school and college levels.This project seeks to develop enhanced teleoperation methods to bridge the current gaps of using grasped tools in remotely operated manipulation tasks, such as, fastening a screw with a grasped screwdriver. The key research objective of this project is to investigate tool grasping compliance and stability in force-controlled manufacturing tasks and explore its usage in model-mediated telemanipulation. First, a framework is developed for estimating tool grasping compliance matrices of underactuated robotic hands using combined feedback from hand sensors (joint angles and proprioception) and wrist-mounted force and torque sensors. Then, the estimated compliance is used to infer grasping status and stability and to develop novel force control strategies. Finally, the tool grasping information is incorporated in model-mediated telemanipulation to design and implement a novel grasping-informed virtual fixture haptic assistance. Thereby, a complete solution for user-driven remotely operated manipulation tasks can be delivered.This project is supported by the cross-directorate Foundational Research in Robotics program, jointly managed and funded by the Directorates for Engineering (ENG) and Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.