A new master-arm for man-machine interface

In teleoperation, force feedback is essential in making the operator to feel the same force as the slave robot for precise control with unknown environments. A new concept of the exoskeleton type master-arm is introduced. Basically, this master-arm is composed of serial links. To provide maximum range of human motion, several redundant joints are added to the serial links. Intensive graphic simulation was performed to get the optimal design parameters. In order to reduce the number of necessary joint measurement, kinematics of serial links was carefully considered in design. Three measurable, controllable joints and three free redundant joints were used for shoulder axis similar to wrist axis while one measurable, controllable axis was used for the elbow joint. For force feedback, the electric break constraints the joint movement so that the operator can feel the same force as the slave robot does. Calibration algorithm was derived to compensate the variation of the kinematic parameters. The master-arm can be used for teleoperation with a slave robot, or as a motion planner for an industrial robot