Operation assist for a teleoperated robot system controlled with a lightweight and high-operable master device

In recent years, the demand for robots to perform various tasks in dangerous environments has increased. Master-slave type robots are more suitable for dangerous environments than autonomous robots because human operators can give proper judgement. And unilateral type master-slave control with a simple and lightweight master device has advantages of quick and responsive operability. However, autonomous assist control to the slave robot should be added because direct force feedback is not available in such systems. In addition, virtual assist feedback to the human operator is useful for quick operation. In this study, some assist control methods for safety and operability improvement are proposed. Finally, experimental results are shown, and the validity of the proposed system is verified.