Development of Force Reflecting Joystick for Field Robot

In teleoperation field robotic system such as hydraulically actuated robotic excavator, the maneuverability and convenience is the most important part in the operation of robotic excavator. Particularly the force information is important in dealing with digging and leveling operation in the teleoperated excavator. Excavators are also subject to a wide variation of soil-tool interaction forces. This paper presents a new force reflecting joystick in a velocity-force type bilateral teleoperation system. The master system is electrical joystick and the slave system is hydraulically actuated cylinder with linear position sensor. Particularly Pneumatic motor is used newly in the master joystick for force reflection and the information of the pressure of salve cylinder is measured and utilized as the force feedback signal. Also force-reflection gain greatly affects the ...