An intelligent vision-only operator interface for dexterous robots

The development of a vision-only intelligent interface for dexterous robots is described, capable of tracking operator motions: evaluating trajectory feasibility, and providing visual feedback to the operator. This interface analyses the operator's arm motion for safety, and then converts it into trajectory commands for a mechanical arm. Potentially dangerous situations, such as singularity and self collision, are displayed to the operator as graphical icons superimposed over the robot video images. The paper summarizes the main features of the current implementation, presents the approach developed for singularity identification and describes the performance of the demonstration prototype.