Experimental study on remote manipulation using virtual reality

To control a slave robot in poor visibility environments, an experimental extended teleexistence system using virtual reality was constructed. The environment model was constructed from the design data of the real environment. When virtual reality is used for controlling a slave robot, the modeling errors of the environment model must be calibrated. A model-based calibration system using image measurements is proposed for matching the real environment and the virtual environment. The slave robot has an impedance control system for contact tasks and for compensating for the errors that remain after the calibration. After the calibration, an experimental operation in a poor visibility environment was successfully conducted.