Operating in configuration space significantly improves human performance in teleoperation

Discusses the use of configuration space (C-space) as a means of visualization and control in teleoperation of robot arm manipulators. The motivation is to improve operator performance in tasks involving manipulator motion in a complex three-dimensional (3D) environment with obstacles. Unlike other motion planning tasks, operators are known to make expensive mistakes in arm control, due to deficiencies of human spatial reasoning. The advantage of C-space is that in it the arm becomes a point, a case which humans are much better equipped to handle. To make such operation possible, a tool is proposed that reduces motion in 3D C-space to that in 2D C-space. It is then shown on results from testing 18 human subjects that translating the problem of a three-link 3D arm manipulator motion into C-space improves the operator performance remarkably, by a factor of 2 to 4, compared to usual work space control