Configuration

At client station (View video)

1. Human operator holding a 6DOF master arm
2. operator sees the slave arm 3D scene using a Head Mounted Display (HMD)
3. Operator feels the force feedback transmitted through the network and displaced on the master arm.

At server station

• The slave arm (Puma 560) motion is a replica of master arm motion transmitted through the network.
• A force sensor is installed at the slave arm wrist to detect the contact forces on the used object.
• The slave server transmit to the client a real time stream of force information.
• Two cameras are set with 6cm disparity (like human eyes) to monitor the slave scene.
• The slave server transmit a real time stereo vision to the client.

  Peg-in-Hole Insertion Experiment

• To avoid jamming forces, that appear during the insertion, slave arm is to move in the direction that reduces these forces
• A local force regulation (server program) makes correction to the peg position & orientation to reduce the contact forces (View Video 1 & Video 2)
• A remote force regulation (operator) adjusts the peg position to reduce displayed forces.
• The main strategy of the insertion is to align peg and hole axes while pushing down the peg. (View Video)
• The main strategy of the extraction is to align peg and hole axes while pulling up the peg. (View Video)

  Water Pouring

• Pickup a cup filled with colored water and move it to vicinity of a target empty cup (View Video)
• Operator twists the cap at nearly constant altitude to pour the water
• Operator shifts his arm back into its dexterity area while freezing the slave arm (like a mouse function)
• Now the operator can completely pour the water and withdraws the empty cup. (View Video)

   Assembly of a Water-Pump

• A water pump consists of a metallic base, a motor, and a plastic cover.
• First step is to slave arm pick up the motor, move it close to the metallic base, align its axes with that of the base, carry out the part-mating, and release the motor. (View Video)
• Now we have a sub-assembly consisting of the base and the motor.
• Second step is to have the slave arm picks up the plastic cover, align its axes with that of the sub-assembly, carry out the part -mating, and release the plastic cover.
• Part-mating and axis alignment may fail (View Video)
• Part-mating and axis alignment succeeded (View Video)
• Now the assembly complete.

   Introducing a Wire in a Needle Hole Experiment (View video)

• Here,  introducing a wire (0.5 mm D) into a rectangular hole (0.65 mm x 1.5 mm)  of a  needle (1 mm D)
• Scale-down stereo vision (100:1) and hand motion (30:1) spaces to tele-operate in small scale
• Operator searches appropriate insertion direction using on-line hand-tool motion coordination
• Operator uses 3D stereo vision without force feedback
• Space scalability is critical to robotic surgery
• Transposing surgeon skills to a variety of scales inside the body of the patient
• Telepresence of surgeon skills augmented with miniature haptic tools every where at any scale.

   Wire Wrapping Experiment (View video)

• Space scalability allows to scale down the motion to a small space with higher accuracy
• Wire-wrapping requires a gun is be inserted in a set of successive needles that are 2 mm distant from each other
• Operator hand is to zero the mis-alignment error while avoiding jamming due to lateral contact of the tool head and needle
• Reflected force feedback and stereo vision provide orthogonal information that complement each other
• Space scalability allows a surgeon to carry out flexible operations inside the patient's body without open-surgery

   Opening/Closing Drawer Experiment

• Operating the drawer may require multi-objective eye-hand motion coordination
• To pull the drawer the operator hand is to move backward while avoiding lateral contact of the drawer (View video)
• To remove a drawer from its container we must tilt it up and move its back down (View video)
• To install the drawer we must tilt it up, inter its back wing, tilt it down, and push (View video)  

   Operating Electrical Switches and unlocking a lock

• Operating electrical switches require eye-hand motion coordination with impedance control
  • Push-bottom switch
    • Setting up the tool in a proper operating direction, and
    • Adjusting the tool force to match the task impedance (no more, no less)  (View video)
  • Bi-stable switch
    • Setting up the direction and position of tool to switch ON (down-up)
    • Pull up tool and repeat switch OFF (up-down)  (View video)  

     

• Unlocking a lock consists of introducing a key and unlocking
• Introducing a key in the lock requires excellent eye-hand coordination (View video)  
• Turning the key to unlock requires turning the key while maintaining key orientation (View video)