Research on Teleoperation Methods under Time-varying Communication Delays

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In this research, we have conducted some basic researches in various viewpoints to establish a teleoperation method under time-varying communication delays. We first designed and developed a master-slave hand by which one can perform some dexterous telemanipulations. We also proposed toy block assembling as a benchmark test for teleoperation systems.Then, we proposed dynamic multi-fingered manipulability measure which was extended from the original dynamic manipulability measure so that it can evaluate multi-fingered hands. Based on this measure, we proposed design guidelines for master-slave hands. Next, we proposed a bilateral control method that is stable even under time-varying communication delays. We conducted some experiments in a computer network simulating the Internet and confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed method. We had a chance to conduct a bilateral teleoperation experiment with a robot arm mounted on the Engineering Test Satellite No. VII (ETS-VII). Several experiments were carried out with success even under 6-7 sec time delay. It has been assumed that bilateral control is no use under such long time delays. Experimental results, however, showed that kinesthetic force feedback to the operator was helpful to complete the tasks even without any visual aids.Finally, we developed a master-slave system that can perform tasks in 3-D space. We then proposed a teleoperation method by using a master arm with limited motion range. Using the developed master-slave system, we evaluated the manipulability of the proposed method. We also designed a master-slave hand that can be attached to the developed system for tasks in 3-D space.These research results may be an important basis for developing teleoperation systems that can conduct several tasks via the Internet in the future.