A study on teleoperation system for a hexapod robot — Development of a prototype platform

This paper presents a prototype platform of teleoperation system for a hexapod robot, which is developed to investigait operation manners and display information in carrying out various tasks. The hexapod robot has 6 equal limbs with 4 DOF, and each limb has both functions of leg and arm. In case that such a multi-legged robot is operated by remote control, two or more operation manners are required, because the function of the leg needs to be changed according to tasks. Since the configuration of the robot differs from the ones of an operator, the information provided on display device is also significant in order that the operator grasps the situation of robot and the operation manner intuitively. The operation system is constructed in consideration of three target operation, walk around, lift an object using two legs and walk with handling an object. Operation manners implemented for three operations are introduced. Control methods for the walking mode and the lifting mode are also described. In the lifting mode, the posture of the robot is controlled so as not to overturn, when the robot lifts a box using two legs according to commands from an operator. Simple experiments show the effectiveness of the control method.