Foot-operated tele-impedance control interface for robot manipulation tasks involving interaction with unstructured and unpredictable environments

Foot-operated tele-impedance control interface for robot manipulation tasks involving interaction with unstructured and unpredictable environments

Klevering, Stijn (TU Delft Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering)

Peternel, L. (mentor)
Mugge, W. (mentor)
Abbink, D.A. (mentor)

Delft University of Technology

2021-03-31

Tele-impedance can increase interaction perfor- mance between a robotic tool and unstructured/unpredictable environment during teleoperation. However, the existing tele- impedance interfaces have several ongoing issues, such as long calibration times and various obstructions for the human oper- ator. In addition, they are all designed to be controlled by the operator’s arms, which can cause difficulties when both arms are used, as in bi-manual teleoperation. To resolve these issues, we designed novel foot-based tele-impedance control method inspired by the human limb stiffness ellipse modulation. The proposed mechanical interface is based around a circular disc and a foot pressure sensor that controls orientation and size/shape of the stiffness ellipsoid, respectively, by the operator’s foot. We evalu- ated the circular disc interface control method in an experimental study with 12 participants, who performed a two-dimensional drilling task in a virtual environment. The results show the ability of the operator in controlling the proposed interface to dynamically adapt to task instruction and environment. In addition, a comparison with low and high constant impedance control demonstrate a superior interaction performance of the proposed interface.

Teleoperation
Tele-impedance
Foot Interface

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:f299b191-06bb-4b82-be26-51f15f166507

2023-04-01

Student theses

master thesis

© 2021 Stijn Klevering