An intelligent, free-flying robot

The ground based demonstration of the extensive extravehicular activity (EVA) Retriever, a voice-supervised, intelligent, free flying robot, is designed to evaluate the capability to retrieve objects (astronauts, equipment, and tools) which have accidentally separated from the Space Station. The major objective of the EVA Retriever Project is to design, develop, and evaluate an integrated robotic hardware and on-board software system which autonomously: (1) performs system activation and check-out; (2) searches for and acquires the target; (3) plans and executes a rendezvous while continuously tracking the target; (4) avoids stationary and moving obstacles; (5) reaches for and grapples the target; (6) returns to transfer the object; and (7) returns to base

Robust dexterous telemanipulation following object-orientation commands

This paper aims to present a procedure to change the orientation of a grasped object using dexterous manipulation. The manipulation is controlled by teleoperation in a very simple way, with the commands introduced by an operator using a keyboard. Design/methodology/approach - The paper shows a teleoperation scheme, hand kinematics and a manipulation strategy to manipulate different objects using the Schunk Dexterous Hand (SDH2). A state machine is used to model the teleoperation actions and the system states. A virtual link is used to include the contact point on the hand kinematics of the SDH2. Findings - Experiments were conducted to evaluate the proposed approach with different objects, varying the initial grasp configuration and the sequence of actions commanded by the operator. Originality/value - The proposed approach uses a shared telemanipulation schema to perform dexterous manipulation; in this schema, the operator sends high-level commands and a local system uses this information, jointly with tactile measurements and the current status of the system, to generate proper setpoints for the low-level control of the fingers, which may be a commercial close one. The main contribution of this work is the mentioned local system, simple enough for practical applications and robust enough to avoid object falls.Postprint (author's final draft

Robust dexterous telemanipulation following object-orientation commands

This paper aims to present a procedure to change the orientation of a grasped object using dexterous manipulation. The manipulation is controlled by teleoperation in a very simple way, with the commands introduced by an operator using a keyboard. Design/methodology/approach - The paper shows a teleoperation scheme, hand kinematics and a manipulation strategy to manipulate different objects using the Schunk Dexterous Hand (SDH2). A state machine is used to model the teleoperation actions and the system states. A virtual link is used to include the contact point on the hand kinematics of the SDH2. Findings - Experiments were conducted to evaluate the proposed approach with different objects, varying the initial grasp configuration and the sequence of actions commanded by the operator. Originality/value - The proposed approach uses a shared telemanipulation schema to perform dexterous manipulation; in this schema, the operator sends high-level commands and a local system uses this information, jointly with tactile measurements and the current status of the system, to generate proper setpoints for the low-level control of the fingers, which may be a commercial close one. The main contribution of this work is the mentioned local system, simple enough for practical applications and robust enough to avoid object falls.Postprint (author's final draft

Autonomy Infused Teleoperation with Application to BCI Manipulation

Robot teleoperation systems face a common set of challenges including latency, low-dimensional user commands, and asymmetric control inputs. User control with Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) exacerbates these problems through especially noisy and erratic low-dimensional motion commands due to the difficulty in decoding neural activity. We introduce a general framework to address these challenges through a combination of computer vision, user intent inference, and arbitration between the human input and autonomous control schemes. Adjustable levels of assistance allow the system to balance the operator's capabilities and feelings of comfort and control while compensating for a task's difficulty. We present experimental results demonstrating significant performance improvement using the shared-control assistance framework on adapted rehabilitation benchmarks with two subjects implanted with intracortical brain-computer interfaces controlling a seven degree-of-freedom robotic manipulator as a prosthetic. Our results further indicate that shared assistance mitigates perceived user difficulty and even enables successful performance on previously infeasible tasks. We showcase the extensibility of our architecture with applications to quality-of-life tasks such as opening a door, pouring liquids from containers, and manipulation with novel objects in densely cluttered environments

Human to robot hand motion mapping methods: review and classification

In this article, the variety of approaches proposed in literature to address the problem of mapping human to robot hand motions are summarized and discussed. We particularly attempt to organize under macro-categories the great quantity of presented methods, that are often difficult to be seen from a general point of view due to different fields of application, specific use of algorithms, terminology and declared goals of the mappings. Firstly, a brief historical overview is reported, in order to provide a look on the emergence of the human to robot hand mapping problem as a both conceptual and analytical challenge that is still open nowadays. Thereafter, the survey mainly focuses on a classification of modern mapping methods under six categories: direct joint, direct Cartesian, taskoriented, dimensionality reduction based, pose recognition based and hybrid mappings. For each of these categories, the general view that associates the related reported studies is provided, and representative references are highlighted. Finally, a concluding discussion along with the authors’ point of view regarding future desirable trends are reported.This work was supported in part by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme with the project REMODEL under Grant 870133 and in part by the Spanish Government under Grant PID2020-114819GB-I00.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

マルチ スケール キノウ ヲ ユウスル コウソク ジドウ マイクロ マニピュレーション システム

Ebubekir Avci, Chanh-Nghiem Nguyen, Kenichi Ohara, Yasushi Mae, Tatsuo Arai, Analysis and suppression of residual vibration in microhand for high-speed single-cell manipulation, International Journal of Mechatronics and Automation, 2013-Vol.3, No.2, pp.110-11

Telerobotic Sensor-based Tool Control Derived From Behavior-based Robotics Concepts

@font-face { font-family: TimesNewRoman ; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times New Roman ; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } Teleoperated task execution for hazardous environments is slow and requires highly skilled operators. Attempts to implement telerobotic assists to improve efficiency have been demonstrated in constrained laboratory environments but are not being used in the field because they are not appropriate for use on actual remote systems operating in complex unstructured environments using typical operators. This work describes a methodology for combining select concepts from behavior-based systems with telerobotic tool control in a way that is compatible with existing manipulator architectures used by remote systems typical to operations in hazardous environment. The purpose of the approach is to minimize the task instance modeling in favor of a priori task type models while using sensor information to register the task type model to the task instance. The concept was demonstrated for two tools useful to decontamination & dismantlement type operations—a reciprocating saw and a powered socket tool. The experimental results demonstrated that the approach works to facilitate traded control telerobotic tooling execution by enabling difficult tasks and by limiting tool damage. The role of the tools and tasks as drivers to the telerobotic implementation was better understood in the need for thorough task decomposition and the discovery and examination of the tool process signature. The contributions of this work include: (1) the exploration and evaluation of select features of behavior-based robotics to create a new methodology for integrating telerobotic tool control with positional teleoperation in the execution of complex tool-centric remote tasks, (2) the simplification of task decomposition and the implementation of sensor-based tool control in such a way that eliminates the need for the creation of a task instance model for telerobotic task execution, and (3) the discovery, demonstrated use, and documentation of characteristic tool process signatures that have general value in the investigation of other tool control, tool maintenance, and tool development strategies above and beyond the benefit sustained for the methodology described in this work

Manipulation of unknown objects to improve the grasp quality using tactile information

This work presents a novel and simple approach in the area of manipulation of unknown objects considering both geometric and mechanical constraints of the robotic hand. Starting with an initial blind grasp, our method improves the grasp quality through manipulation considering the three common goals of the manipulation process: improving the hand configuration, the grasp quality and the object positioning, and, at the same time, prevents the object from falling. Tactile feedback is used to obtain local information of the contacts between the fingertips and the object, and no additional exteroceptive feedback sources are considered in the approach. The main novelty of this work lies in the fact that the grasp optimization is performed on-line as a reactive procedure using the tactile and kinematic information obtained during the manipulation. Experimental results are shown to illustrate the efficiency of the approachPeer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 344)

This bibliography lists 125 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during January, 1989. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance