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Development of a master controller for a 3-link dual-arm underwater robot

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Abstract

Master-slave system is a vital technique for controlling robot motions. An intuitive master controller enables precise and easy control of robot, especially for underwater robotics applications. Most of the commercially available master-slave systems are very complex and expensive, and operators need to receive extensive training before being able to correctly operate the robot. This paper addresses these problems by introducing a simple and intuitive master controller for an experimental semi-autonomous underwater vehicle equipped with 3-link dual-arm. The master controller includes a vehicle main master controller and two units of 3-link manipulator master controller. Moreover, each end-tip of the manipulator master controller is attached with a vehicle sub-master controller that consists of a joystick and tactile switches. These sub-master controllers are designed to control the position and attitude of the vehicle. The ability to simultaneously control two units of 3-link dual-arm and the position and attitude of the vehicle is the uniqueness of the proposed controller. In this work, the design of the developed master controller and the structure of a unilateral master-slave system are presented. The usefulness of the master controller is verified through experiment on controlling an actual dual-arm underwater robot to catch a target object in underwater environment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Control Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Tobata, Kitakyushu, 804-8550, Japan

    Radzi Bin Ambar & Shinichi Sagara

Authors
  1. Radzi Bin Ambar
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  2. Shinichi Sagara
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Correspondence to Shinichi Sagara.

Additional information

This work was presented in part at the 20th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Beppu, Oita, January 21–23, 2015.

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Ambar, R.B., Sagara, S. Development of a master controller for a 3-link dual-arm underwater robot. Artif Life Robotics 20, 327–335 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10015-015-0234-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10015-015-0234-9

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