Task assistance control using multiple camera configuration based bilateral system

Abstract

Industrial robots have been utilized in factories to increase production efficiency. They can perform tasks with high power and accuracy, which is difficult for humans. However, if the tasks are too complicated, it is difficult to realize complete automation with robots, due to the lack of flexibility. Therefore, human-robot cooperation system is drawing attention of researchers to address this problem.Master-slave system with bilateral control is a key technology to realize human-robot cooperation system. Since position and force information are transmitted bilaterally, an operator can operate the slave robot in a remote place, and feel a tactile sensation of a remote environment.However, it has a problem of communication delays because information must be transmitted between master-slave system. Since, teleoperation cannot avoid communication delays, operators are forced to use delayed information and it is difficult for the operator to recognize accurate position and posture of remote objects. To solve this problem, slave robot supports operation using visual information autonomously.This paper shows a realization of operability improvement in master-slave system by putting an assist based on camera information from two viewpoints of fixed camera and camera which is mounted on a slave end-effector together.