A Wearable Upper Limb Exoskeleton for Intuitive Teleoperation of Anthropomorphic Manipulators

Teleoperation technology combines the strength and accuracy of robots with the perception and cognition abilities of human experts, allowing the robots to work as an avatar of the operator in dangerous environments. The motion compatibility and intuitiveness of the human-machine interface directly affect the quality of teleoperation. However, many motion capture methods require special working environments or need bulky mechanisms. In this research, we proposed a wearable, lightweight, and passive upper limb exoskeleton, which takes intuitiveness and human-machine compatibility as a major concern. The upper limb pose estimation and teleoperation mapping control methods based on the exoskeleton are also discussed. Experimental results showed that by the help of the upper limb exoskeleton, people can achieve most areas of the normal range of motion. The proposed mapping control methods were verified on a 14-DOF anthropomorphic manipulator and showed good performance in teleoperation tasks.

Automated summary

Teleoperation technology combines robot strength with human perception and cognition abilities, allowing robots to work in dangerous environments as avatars of operators. The quality of teleoperation is directly affected by the motion compatibility and intuitiveness of the human-machine interface. This research proposes a wearable, lightweight, and passive upper limb exoskeleton that prioritizes intuitiveness and human-machine compatibility. The research also discusses upper limb pose estimation and teleoperation mapping control methods based on the exoskeleton. Experimental results demonstrate that the upper limb exoskeleton enables users to achieve most areas of normal motion and the proposed mapping control methods perform well in teleoperation tasks using a 14-DOF anthropomorphic manipulator.