Generating artificial force for feedback control of teleoperated mobile robots

One of the most important issues in the teleoperation is to provide the sense of telepresence so as to conduct the task more reliably. In particular, teleoperated mobile robots need to have some kind of backup system when the operator is blind to the remote situation owing to failure of the vision system. In Hong S-G et al. (see Mechatronics), the idea of artificial force reflection was proposed to enhance the reliability of operation when the mobile robot travels over plain ground. We extend these results to help the teleoperator even when the robot climbs stairs. The extended artificial force reflection method has two modes: traveling on plain ground and climbing stairs. When traveling over plain ground, the force information is artificially generated using range data from the environment while generating the impulse force when climbing stairs. To verify the validity of our algorithm, we develop a simulator which consists of a joystick and visual display system. Through experiments using this system, we confirm the validity and effectiveness of our new artificial force reflection in teleoperated mobile robots