Master-slave manipulator based on virtual internal model following control concept

This paper presents a new control method of master-slave manipulators based on the concept of Virtual Internal Model Following Control, which realizes the master-slave manipulator system with various functions which assist operators as well as bilateral feedback based on external information from sensors or others. In the proposed control system, the virtual internal model is introduced to describe a desired relation between the motion of a master and that of a slave. The external information detected by sensors or others are applied to this model, and the motions of master and slave arms are controlled based on the model. The proposed algorithm is experimentaly applied to the master-slave manipulator with force sensors, and desired response to the external information as well as bilateral feedback is realized.