Robotic manipulator operated by human interface with positioning control using laser pointer

A robotic manipulator operated by a human interface with positioning control using a laser pointer is proposed. A bedridden user can easily manipulate his/her belongings by using the robotic manipulator. When a bedridden user wishes to catch a target object, the user exposes the target object to the laser beam spot by manipulating a lever. Then, the user pushes a switch of the lever. After this simple operation, a robotic hand moves automatically to the target object following a laser beam trajectory, and the user can capture the target object. The robotic manipulator used in our research does not require an installation area because it is installed on the a ceiling of a house. Two linear motion actuators are fixed on the ceiling and the carriage is moved horizontally. The robotic hand is suspended from the carriage. The paper describes the concept of the robotic system, the human interface using the laser pointer, the follow algorithm of the laser beam trajectory, and the target detection algorithm. The validity of the proposed robotic system has been confirmed by experimental results.