Adjustable impedance, force feedback and command language aids for telerobotics (parts 1-4 of an 8-part MIT progress report)

Projects recently completed or in progress at MIT Man-Machine Systems Laboratory are summarized. (1) A 2-part impedance network model of a single degree of freedom remote manipulation system is presented in which a human operator at the master port interacts with a task object at the slave port in a remote location is presented. (2) The extension of the predictor concept to include force feedback and dynamic modeling of the manipulator and the environment is addressed. (3) A system was constructed to infer intent from the operator's commands and the teleoperation context, and generalize this information to interpret future commands. (4) A command language system is being designed that is robust, easy to learn, and has more natural man-machine communication. A general telerobot problem selected as an important command language context is finding a collision-free path for a robot.