Nuclear telerobotics and dextrous controllers

Two new fields of development at AEA Technology´s Harwell Laboratory are described, covering telerobotics and hand controllers for the nuclear industry. The first development describes the production of a nuclear engineered advanced telerobot (NEATER) for applications in decommissioning and waste handling. It is a re-engineered industrial robot based on the Staubli-Unimation PUMA 762 clean room manipulator. The second development described concerns dextrous hand controllers which can be used to control the motion of a telerobotic manipulator end effector as it moves in space and contacts surfaces and workpieces. Several input devices have been investigated for characteristics such as user-friendliness, compactness and cost effectiveness. Servo control of bilateral systems has been examined to optimize end point bilateral control