Marionette system for operating and displaying whole-body motion: evaluation of tele-manipulation using Marionette device

It is difficult to generate whole-body motion of a multi-joint robot and to observe its condition, since its structure is complicated. We propose Marionette system to provide an intuitive teleoperation system. Marionette system employs a small robot which is similar form to a target robot as an operating/displaying device. The device provides the operational feeling like handling a marionette, so we named it "Marionette device." This system has several advantages: operation and presentation can be done simultaneously, all movable joints are operated intuitively, and the robot motion is displayed in the easy-to-understand way. We developed a similar humanoid robot as Marionette device in order to operate HRP-2 and conducted the comparison experiment of presentation and operation. In this paper, we upgrade Marionette device and develop a posture displaying device to verify the validity of the proposed system. We have carried out evaluation experiments on the remote control of upper body. Marionette system is compared with the conventional method using a joystick control and a CG display. The experimental results show Marionette system is more convenient operation and presentation environment.