Virtual force generation method for remote control system in mobile robot

Abstract

This paper describes a remote control system with a virtual force feedback in a mobile robot. In the mobile robot, a laser range finder is utilized to recognize environmental information. By using this environmental information and the specification of the mobile robot, the safety velocity area (SVA) is calculated in real-time. On the other hand, an operator generates the velocity commands for the mobile robot in real time. By using the relation between SVA and the velocity commands, the virtual force is generated. If the velocity commands are out of SVA, the operator can feel the virtual force. In the previous research, the virtual force is generated based on the only velocity differences. Therefore, the chattering of virtual force commands may occur. In order to solve this problem, this paper proposes the virtual force generation method with hysteresis. Therefore, the operability of the remote control system is increased. From experimental results, the validity of the proposed method was confirmed.