Telemanipulation with the DLR/HIT II robot hand using a dataglove and a low cost force feedback device

In this paper a series of teleoperation and manipulation tasks are performed with the five fingered robot hand DLR/HIT II. Two different everyday life objects are used for the manipulation tasks; a small ball and a rectangular object. The joint-to-joint mapping methodology is used to map human to robot hand motion, taking into account existing kinematic constraints such as synergistic characteristics and joint couplings. The Cyberglove II motion capture dataglove is used to measure human hand kinematics. A robot hand specific fast calibration procedure is used to map raw dataglove sensor values to human joint angles and subsequently through the mapping procedure, to DLR/HIT II joint angles. A novel low cost force feedback device is developed, in order for the user to be able to detect contact and perceive the forces exerted by the robot fingertips, during manipulation tasks. The design of the force feedback device is based on RGB LEDs that provide visual feedback and vibration motors that provide vibro-tactile feedback.