Collaborative Research: NRI: Shape-Based Remote Manipulation

远程呈现系统由连接到虚拟化身机器人的操作员界面组成，有望提供跨越距离障碍连接人们的新方法。例如，这项技术将使医生能够将体检纳入远程医疗，并使家庭能够在老年亲属就位时照顾他们。然而，由于触觉功能有限，目前的系统使用起来可能很慢，而且令人沮丧：操作员无法轻松感觉到远程物体，就好像它们掌握在自己手中一样。为了解决这一问题，将开发一种远程操纵的新范例--基于形状的远程操纵(SBRM)。SBRM将新型多指触觉设备与抓取对象的数学模型相结合，实现了灵巧的手部遥操作。除了开发新技术外，该项目还将在伙伴大学内外产生教育影响。调查人员将招募和培训大多数BIPOC(黑人、土著和有色人种)研究生群体进行这项研究。此外，研究小组还将设计并主办一个名为“Shape Beaming Experience”的远程触摸展览，在这里，佛罗里达州塔拉哈西Challenger学习中心的学生可以与伊利诺伊州芝加哥科学与工业博物馆的学生进行身体互动。基于Shape的远程操作(SBRM)的目标是克服远程操作中的一个基本问题，即在通信延迟的情况下在稳定性/健壮性和性能之间进行权衡。它通过RGB-D数据、几何模型、柔顺的机械手和手臂、双边控制以及多指触觉反馈和基于形状的控制方面的创新来实现这一点。该项目将分四个部分实施。首先，将开发一种最先进的远程操作试验台，覆盖相距近1000英里的两所大学校园。其次，将开发用于获取关于化身环境中的对象的语义、几何和物理信息的技术。第三，将创建一个新的形状界面，允许操作员抓取、感觉和操作虚拟对象。第四，将开发一套基于形状的控制技术，协调操作员和化身的灵活性。该项目将带来对影响远程手部灵活性的因素的新知识，特别是基于形状的触觉信息的作用。这项工作的一个方面是一种新颖的多手指触觉界面，它将手指限制在极其坚硬的虚拟表面上，使迄今为止尚不可行的触觉感知和灵巧操作中的形状信息研究成为可能。这项工作的另一个方面将是一种基于微分几何的远程操纵的新方法，旨在将单边控制的健壮性好处与双边控制的性能好处结合起来。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Remote presence systems, consisting of operator interfaces coupled to avatar robots, promise new ways of connecting people across the barrier of distance. For example, the technology will enable physicians to incorporate physical examinations into telehealth, and families to care for elderly relatives as they age in place. Present systems, however, can be slow and frustrating to use due to limited haptic capabilities: operators cannot easily feel remote objects as if they were in their own hands. To address this, a new paradigm in telemanipulation, Shape-Based Remote Manipulation (SBRM), will be developed. SBRM integrates novel multi-finger haptic devices with mathematical models of grasped objects to enable dexterous in-hand telemanipulation. In addition to developing novel technology, this project will also make an educational impact both within and outside the partner universities. The investigators will recruit and train a majority BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) group of graduate students on this research. Additionally, the research team will design and host a tele-touch exhibit to be called “The Shape Beaming Experience” where students at The Challenger Learning Center in Tallahassee, Florida, can physically interact with students at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois.The goal of Shape-Based Remote Manipulation (SBRM) is to overcome a fundamental issue in telemanipulation, namely the trade-off between stability/robustness and performance in the face of communication latencies. It accomplishes this through a novel integration of RGB-D data, geometric models, compliant robotic hands and arms, and bilateral control, along with innovations in multi-finger haptic feedback and shape-based controls. The project will be executed in four parts. First, a state-of-the-art remote manipulation testbed will be developed spanning two university campuses nearly 1,000 miles apart. Second, techniques for obtaining semantic, geometric, and physical information about objects in the avatar's environment will be developed. Third, a novel Shape Interface will be created, allowing operators to grasp, feel and manipulate virtual objects. Fourth, a set of shape-based control techniques that coordinate operator and avatar dexterity will be developed. The project will lead to new knowledge about the factors impacting remote in-hand dexterity, especially the role of shape-based haptic information. One aspect of the work will be a novel multi-finger haptic interface that constrains the fingers to extremely rigid virtual surfaces, enabling heretofore infeasible studies of shape information in haptic perception and dexterous manipulation. Another aspect of the work will be a new approach to telemanipulation based on differential geometry that aims to combine the robustness benefits of unilateral control with the performance benefits of bilateral control.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.