Position-assist shared control of a force-reflecting telerobot

A shared control system has been developed and implemented which mixes teleoperator commands and autonomously generated commands to assist a teleoperator in accomplishing elemental tasks with a six-axis force-reflecting telemanipulator system operating with position to position control. The basic control structure has been developed to accommodate many tasks, but only peg-insertion type tasks are presented here. The system uses predefined position constraint configuration types which have been identified in cartesian space and maximize the effectiveness of elemental tasks. The operator selects one of these types and loads the system with corresponding parameters which define the degrees of freedom which are allowed within the position constraints. Loading can be done by teaching with teleoperation, selecting from memory, or automatically from a model of the working environment. The shared controller accepts only components of position commands from the teleoperator device which are within the position constraints. Components of force at the manipulator which lie within the allowed degrees of freedom are reflected to the teleoperator device. Perpendicular forces are generated to increase telepresence by driving the teleoperator device to a position corresponding to the autonomously controlled position of the manipulator.