NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
A controller for a remote manipulator has a computer link instead of a mechanical link or servomechanism between the control station and the manipulator arm. The master arm, which an operator uses to control the manipulator, therefore does not have to resemble the slave arm either kinematically or dynamically. The master arm can be smaller and lighter or larger and heavier than the remote manipulator arm. It can also require a smaller or larger volume in which to move. In an experimental version of the controller, the master arm is hand- operated. The slave arm has force and torque sensors at the wrist and proximity, touch, and slip sensors at the hand. The controller hand is located at a control station, which also includes two- dimensional and stereoscopic television displays; graphical displays for proximity, touch, slip, force, and torque information; audio alarms; and control switches. The slave arm is at a remote site that includes a television camera for viewing the manipulator. The controller uses a distributed microcomputer system for data processing (see figure). Three microcomputers at the control station are respectively dedicated to control of the feedback mechanisms in the controller hand, operation of the graphical displays, and automatic control of certain functions to ease the burden on the operator. Three microcomputers at the remote station control the slave arm, control the camera, and process the sensor data, respectively. Each microcomputer communicates with the others at the same station through a shared bus and with the microcomputers at the opposite station over a shared input/output channel.
Point of Contact:
Antal K. Bejczy
Mail Stop 198-219
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena CA 91109
818-354-4568
bejczy@telerobotics.jpl.nasa.gov
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Maintained by: Dave Lavery
Last updated: May 10, 1996