Macro-Micro Control of Improve Bilateral Force-Reflecting Teleoperation

We study a simple teleoperator consisting of a single degree-of-freedom master and a two degree-of-freedom, macro-micro slave manipulator. Using an appropriate controller, the inertia and friction of the larger macro axis of the slave can be suppressed, thereby increasing the transparency of the teleoperator to the user. High-quality, stable, force-reflecting teleoperation is achieved with a 50:1 force scaling factor, without the use of explicit force sensing.