Development of a telerobotics system for construction robot using virtual reality

In this study, we have developed a bilateral telerobotics system for a construction robot using virtual reality. The system consists of a servo-controlled construction robot, two joysticks for operation of the robot from a remote place, and a 3 degrees of freedom motion base. The operator of the robot sits on the motion base and controls the robot bilaterally from a remote place. The role of the motion base is to realistically simulate the motion of the construction robot. In this study, we propose a new method of master-slave control in order to better control the hydraulic actuators which are used for actuating the construction robot. We also developed the tele-operation control system for the construction robot using the TCP/IP protocol and computer graphics. The usefulness of the system is confirmed by the experiments in this study.