Small Scale Robot Arm Manuipulat

Abstract:

Our idea is to create a tele-operational robot that has as a controller a smaller scale replica that the user can manipulate. The user will be able to manipulate the small robot and the corresponding joint manipulations will be converted to the movements of the large scale robot. Furthermore, the large scale robot will produce feedback to the user so the user knows if contact has been made with a barrier or object. The small scale robot will be remotely operated and ideally will be operational in a separate remote location.

Motivation:

The motivation for this robot is to eliminate the use of a joystick that only has 2 degrees of freedom to a small scale robot that will have the same degrees of freedom that the robot arm has. This would ideally increase the speed of the robot control from the previous joystick method. Moreover, having the robot control in a remote location would help serve the purpose of allowing for manipulation tasks in locations that humans would be unable to reach. Also this task would only require the movement of the wrist and hand and thus may apply to persons in a wheelchair or people with reduced reaching abilities. The added feedback would serve the purpose of allowing the user to know when the robot is not moving due to the physical constraints around the robot such as a wall or post, and additionally knowing when an object is within grasp.