A Stable and Transparent Microscale Force Feedback Teleoperation System

Scaled force feedback teleoperation is a promising approach to assist an operator engaged in a microscale task. Several systems were previously described to achieve such purpose, but much room was left for improvement, especially with regard to the specificities of bilateral coupling with very large scaling coefficients. Here, the objective is to render at human-scale haptic information available at the microscale, and to provide scaled teleoperation that simultaneously achieves stability and transparency. An active force sensor and a novel haptic interface were interconnected to form a complete teleoperation chain through a direct, two-channel scheme. Stability was ensured by enforcing passivity in the slave and in the master subsystems. Several experiments were carried out to demonstrate the capabilities of the system. The first experiment involved noncontact magnetic interaction. A second set of experiments demonstrated the penetration of a thin-glass probe in a water droplet where the operator interactively felt capillary forces.