Sensorless force reflecting teleoperation for low cost web-interfaced systems

An ever-growing number of Internet connected devices is now accessible to a multitude of users. Most of those devices, however, offer to the user a simple command interface which does not allow for a real time command of the remote apparatus. In this paper, the authors present the JBIT system, a Java-Based Interface for Telerobotics, which provides a web-based real time interface to a robot located in their laboratory. In order to enhance the sense of immersion in the remote environment, force feedback is added to visual and virtual reality feedback and common button interfaces. In order to maintain the cost of the overall system low, however, force sensor capabilities has to be replaced by an estimator. In this paper, the authors present their direct-drive 2 and 3 DOF mini robots, based on off-the-shelf hard disk drive technology. Given their negligible friction, the force arising during interaction with the environment is easily obtained from the dynamic model of the mechanical system. Simulation results and experiments are presented. Interested users can access the authors´ site and enjoy playing with the robots at the web address: http://www.dei.unipd.it/~oboe/