Synchronized processing of tele-manipulation system

How to construct a tele-manipulation system of a robot arm with both visual and haptic sensation is shown together with the experimental result. To move a robot arm at a slave system as an operator intends, he manipulates a force feedback device (PHANTOM) at a master system while watching a television image of the robot arm taken at the slave system. A force torque sensor (FTS: a force torque sensor and FT data: the output data of FTS) is mounted on a robot hand, and the output is conveyed to the PHANToM. This system gives a user the feeling as if he were directly operating the remote robot arm. However the following problems occur in operation. (1) The difference between the state of a robot and that indicated in a television (2) The delay caused the output of FTS to the PHANToM (3) It is difficult to synchronize the TV image with the force returned with a PHANToM. We propose two techniques to solve these problems, and show their effects in detail.