Simulated Bilateral Teleoperation of Robonaut

Abstract

Robonaut is a humanoid robot designed by the Robotic Systems Technology Branch at NASA's Johnson Space Center in a collaborative effort with DARPA. With dexterous hands and arms, Robonaut is designed to function as an EVA astronaut equivalent. Robosim, a software simulation of Robonaut, is a separate platform for developing and refining telepresence interfaces before use on Robonaut. This research effort succeeded in implementing some limited force feedback to a teleoperator during a simulated handrail grasp task. The necessary architecture for communication between the force feedback hardware, Robosim, and force calculation algorithms was developed and tested. In an experimental study, the effects of varying feedback to a teleoperator during a handrail grasp task were measured. Peak forces between the Robonaut palm and handrails were calculated for three cases: no feedback, visual feedback of collision state, and force feedback of the interaction forces. Visual feedback was the most effective modality for minimizing contact forces in the handrail task. Force feedback was not shown to be any more effective than no feedback for the same task. Recommendations for improvements to the force contact model, experimental methodologies, and system capabilities are discussed at length.