Development of an advanced master-slave manipulator using a pantograph master arm and a redundant slave arm

A new master-slave manipulator (MSM) with different configurations and different degrees of freedom (DOF) has been developed. It consists of a general master arm using pantograph mechanisms and a seven degree of freedom slave arm with a redundant joint. Symmetric bilateral control using a virtual internal model and redundant arm control with a singular configuration are used to improve the maneuverability of the MSM. The developed MSM has been confirmed to have good maneuverability from basic experiments. This paper describes the mechanisms, control methods, and experimental results of the MSM