JP2005349563A - Master/slave manipulator - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a manipulator excelled in safety and operability. <P>SOLUTION: A control unit, designed to control a slave unit based on commands from a master unit, has the function of calculating the difference in the postures between the master unit and the slave unit, as well as the function of determining the actional mode, chosen from among the non-master/slave action mode, master/slave action mode, and transitional master/slave action mode, which is for the transfer from the non-master/slave action mode to the master/slave action mode, based on the comparison between the absolute value of the difference and prefixed standard values. The action range of the master unit is larger than that of the slave unit. In the master/slave action mode, saturation processing is carried out in the scope of the master unit action range that is larger than the slave unit action range, while in the transitional master/slave action mode, the posture output value is utilized with regard to at least part of the master unit action range that is larger than the slave unit action range. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a manipulator, and more particularly to a master-slave manipulator.

  Conventionally, in laparoscopic surgery such as cholecystectomy, a small hole is drilled in the patient's abdomen, a trocar is attached to that part, an endoscope or forceps is inserted through the trocar, and the surgeon operates the endoscope. Surgery is performed by operating the forceps while watching the image on the monitor. Since such an operation method does not require laparotomy, the burden on the patient is small, and the number of days until recovery and discharge from the operation is greatly reduced. Thus, laparoscopic surgery is excellent in that the burden on patients is small, and expansion of the application field is expected. However, on the other hand, the surgeon uses a forceps with poor operability that does not show the affected part directly and is provided only with an open / close gripper, and is not necessarily suitable for surgery, and requires skill of the operator. It was a thing.

  Therefore, the degree of freedom of posture is given to the tip of the forceps, the operator operates the operation part (master part) having a plurality of degrees of freedom, and the working part (slave part) of the tip having a plurality of degrees of freedom moves the operation part Research and introduction of performing laparoscopic surgery with a master-slave system that works together.

  As one of the master-slave type medical manipulators, there is a remote operation type device in which a master unit and a slave unit are located apart from each other. Multiple slave arms are arranged on the patient's side, and the master located at a distance from the patient is operated to control the position and posture of the medical manipulator tip. This system is complicated and large, and costs and maintenance are easy. Is not good. In addition, it takes much time to prepare for the operating room, and the operation is interrupted, resulting in poor compatibility with the current operation. Furthermore, there is a problem with safety because the surgeon cannot approach the patient directly to perform an operation and cannot cope with an emergency.

  Another master-slave type medical manipulator structure is an integrated medical master-slave manipulator that is easy to introduce with a simple system in which a part of the axis of each of the master part and slave part is a common axis. . In contrast to the previously described remote-controlled manipulators, this integrated manipulator allows the operator to stand on the patient's side and directly operate the manipulator, thus greatly reducing safety issues.

  However, the functions of these medical manipulators have been developed mainly for treatment functions in surgical operations. Ease of installation in the operating room of the system, ease of use by the operator, sterilization cleaning, and ease of starting system operation , Leaving issues such as cost.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-215204 Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-243434

  One of the problems of the conventional technology is that when operating a master-slave type medical manipulator, the operation is started with the posture relationship between the operation unit (master unit) and the working unit (slave unit) not matching. Then, there is a drawback that the slave unit does not operate as the operator (operator) thinks and the operability is poor. This is because if the operation is started in an arbitrary state where the postures of the two do not match, the difference in the posture relationship between the posture of the slave portion reflected on the endoscope monitor and the operation portion operated by the operator is manipulated. This is because a person cannot be accurately recognized and is confused. In such a state, since operability is poor and safety is lowered, there is a technical problem to be solved as a medical manipulator.

  As one method for solving this problem, there is a method in which the posture of the slave unit is stopped and the master unit is matched with the posture of the slave unit (see Patent Document 1). This is a diversion of the method that has been implemented in industrial robots. Specifically, a detection means for detecting the posture angle of each of the slave part and the master part and a means for comparing the detection results are provided. In the manipulator provided, the slave is first stopped, the operator operates the master unit to match the posture of the slave, and the master-slave operation is started from this state. However, when the master-slave operation is started or restarted, it is not necessarily improved in operability if the surgeon performs posture alignment between the slave unit and the master unit one by one. Furthermore, since each of the plurality of degrees of freedom must be matched as described above, it takes time to align the posture. Furthermore, these issues are not appropriate from the standpoint of coping with unforeseen circumstances on the spot.

  As another method, there is a method of automatically matching the slave portion with the posture of the master portion (see Patent Document 2). Specifically, in a manipulator having detection means for detecting posture angles of the slave unit and the master unit and means for sequentially comparing the detection results, the posture deviation between the master unit and the slave unit is large. Then, a transitional master-slave operation is performed in which a slave operation is generated based on the elapsed time and the posture alignment elapsed time. This eliminates the hassle of posture adjustment, which is a problem of the previous method, and realizes an operation that reflects the operator's intention even during posture adjustment, as a medical manipulator The operability is improved. However, when posture adjustment is started in a state where the posture deviation is large, the distance and time for which the slave unit automatically operates is large, and since it operates together with the posture alignment start command, automatic operation unintended by the operator appears prominently, Issues remain in safety.

  Therefore, the object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the prior art described above, and when the operator starts the operation of the master-slave type medical manipulator, the operator performs the process of aligning the posture of the master unit and the slave unit. Operability and safety can be improved by reflecting the operator's intention without being aware of it, without performing unintentional automatic operation of the dangerous operator as a medical device, and even during posture adjustment operation. An object is to provide an improved medical manipulator.

  The master-slave manipulator of the present invention detects a master unit that commands an operation, a slave unit that has a working unit and operates according to the command of the master unit, and each posture angle of the master unit and the slave unit A detector and a control device that controls the slave unit in response to a command from the master unit, the control device calculating a deviation between the master unit posture and the slave unit posture, and an absolute value of the deviation in advance A function that determines one of the non-master-slave operation mode, the master-slave operation mode, and the transitional master-slave operation mode that shifts from the non-master-slave operation mode to the master-slave operation mode by comparison with a set reference value. The operation range of the master unit is larger than the operation range of the slave unit, the master-slave operation In the master mode, saturation processing is performed in an operating range of the master unit larger than the operating range of the slave unit, and in the transitional master-slave operation mode, the operation of the slave unit in the operating range of the master unit is performed. The posture output value for at least a part of the range larger than the range is utilized.

  The master-slave manipulator determines the posture target value of the slave unit according to the difference between the sign of the deviation and the time deviation of the master unit posture in the transitional master-slave operation mode. It further has a function of performing either an acceleration tracking target generation for catching up with a posture angle or a deceleration tracking target generation for allowing the posture angle of the master unit to catch up with the posture target value.

  The master-slave manipulator has a function of performing a saturation process after generating the acceleration tracking target or the deceleration tracking target.

  According to the present invention, the master-slave manipulator can have both operability and safety.

  First, a schematic configuration of the present invention will be described by taking an integrated medical manipulator (master slave manipulator) as an example. As shown in FIG. 1, a medical manipulator system includes a medical manipulator body 1 that operates in a master-slave system, a control device 2 that controls and drives the medical manipulator body, and command input means 3 that inputs an operator's command. And an operation state presenter 5 for presenting the operation state of the medical manipulator.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the medical manipulator main body integrally connects a master unit 8 to which an operator (operator) commands an operation, a slave unit 9 that operates according to its movement, and the master unit and the slave unit. It is comprised from the connection part 10. FIG. As can be seen from FIG. 2, the master unit 8 is configured to be rotatable around three joint axes. An angle sensor for reading the joint angle is attached to each joint axis of the master unit 8, and angle information operated by the operator is sequentially transmitted to the control device 2. The slave unit 9 has a degree of freedom for performing treatment, can rotate about two joint axes, can change the posture of the tip, and has a degree of freedom of opening and closing a gripper attached to the tip. Each operates in accordance with an operator's command. The slave unit 9 operates when power of a motor 21 described later is transmitted through a power transmission unit including wires, rods, gears, and the like. In the figure, reference numeral 7 denotes a trocar.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the control device 2 includes a power supply unit 13, a calculation unit 14, a motor drive circuit unit 15, a safety protection device 16, and various switches 17. The power supply unit 13 supplies necessary power from the external power supply 19 to the calculation unit 14 and the motor circuit unit 15 via a transformer. The calculation unit 14 includes a CPU, a storage device, a logic circuit, and an IO interface, reads the attitude angle of the master unit 8 with the angle detector 22, and generates a control target value for the motor 21 that drives the slave unit 9. It has a function of reading information of the angle detector 23 for measuring the motor operating angle, comparing the control target value of the motor, and calculating the motor command input so as to eliminate the deviation. Further, signal inputs to various switches 17 and the like are monitored, and control calculations are performed according to a predetermined program. The calculation unit 14 repeats these processes as shown in FIG. 4 according to a predetermined control cycle. The motor drive circuit 15 is a circuit that outputs electric power to the motor 21 in accordance with a command input from the calculation unit 14. The safety protection device 16 cuts off the power to the medical manipulator body 1 and immediately stops the operation of the body 1 in preparation for abnormal situations such as a computation cycle abnormality, motor drive circuit abnormality, emergency stop command, etc. It is a device to let you. The various switches 17 are provided in the control device housing 20 and are used for switching commands for operating states of the medical manipulator, power switching, and the like.

  The command input means 3 is a means for smoothly performing commands such as operation start and end of the medical manipulator body 1 and switching of the operation state by direct operation by the operator, and normally does not hinder the procedure. In many cases, the foot switch is used, that is, configured as a foot switch. In addition to the foot switch, a voice input or a switch mounted on the medical manipulator body can be used.

  The operation state presenter 5 presents the operation state of the medical manipulator main body 1 and enhances the safety of the operation by making it easy for an operator or an assistant involved in the operation to confirm the operation state. . It is often installed in the vicinity of the endoscope monitor so that the presentation result can easily enter the operator's visual field.

  The operation shown in FIG. 4 will be briefly described as follows along each slap. That is, the outputs of the angle detectors of the master unit 8 and the slave unit 9 are read (S1). Next, the respective input states of the switch 17 provided in the command input means 3 and the control device 2 are monitored (S2). Next, an operation mode is determined based on the operation command monitoring result (S3). Next, the operation method is determined and the slave unit target value is generated according to the determined operation mode (S4). Next, the calculation for driving the slave unit 9 to the control target value and the result are output to the motor driver (motor drive circuit unit 15) (S5). Next, the operation state is output to the operation state presenter 5 (S6).

  In the medical manipulator main body 1, the remote operation type medical manipulator is a type in which there is no connection portion and the master unit 8 and the slave unit 9 are separated from each other. At this time, a control device is provided in each of the master unit 8 and the slave unit 9, and the master-slave operation is realized by performing data communication.

Next, a procedure for starting the master-slave operation will be described with reference to FIG. When the control device 2 is turned on, power is transmitted to the calculation unit 14 and the medical manipulator body 1, and the calculation unit 14 can read information of each angle sensor. Usually, in such a state where the power is just turned on, the posture relationship between the master unit 8 and the slave unit 9 is almost the same unless any operation is performed. The slave unit 9 is also in a stopped state with the initial posture. The calculation unit 14 sequentially monitors the operation start command input by the operator and the attitude angles of the master unit 8 and the slave unit 9 regardless of the operation mode of the manipulator (S3). Calculation unit 14, the deviation d between the angle theta _m angle theta _s and the master unit 8 of the slave unit 9 calculates the equation (1).
d = θ _m −θ _s formula (1)

The operator inputs a command to start master-slave operation to the calculation unit 14 by the command input means 3 or the switch 17 of the control device. The calculation unit 14 recognizes the master / slave operation start command input, compares the magnitude of the deviation d calculated by the equation (1) with a preset master / slave operation reference value A (S41), When the result satisfies Expression (2), the transition to the transitional master-slave operation mode is made (S42).
| D |> A Formula (2)

When the expression (2) is not satisfied, the posture angle deviation between the master unit 8 and the slave unit 9 is very small, and the mode shifts to the normal master-slave operation mode (S43). Originally, in normal master-slave operation, it is ideal that the value of d is zero. However, since the angle and the reading interval are discrete, it is very rare to observe a state in which the two coincide completely. . In this case, there occurs a situation in which the transition to the normal master-slave operation is not executed slowly even though the attitude angles of the master unit 8 and the slave unit 9 are substantially the same. Even if the attitude angle deviation between the master unit 8 and the slave unit 9 is not completely zero, the operability can be sufficiently compensated when it is almost zero. Therefore, the constant A is introduced in consideration of practical aspects.

  The transitional master-slave operation (S44) mode is a process of shifting from a non-master slave operation mode such as a stopped state to a normal master-slave operation state, and can be operated with the same feeling as the master-slave operation for the operator. Mode.

In this transitional master-slave operation mode, the calculation unit 14 uses the coefficient α to express the relationship between the temporal deviation Δθ _s of the target value of the slave unit 9 and the temporal deviation Δθ _m of the attitude of the master unit 8 as shown in Equation (3). Define.
Δθ _s = α Δθ _m equation (3)

In the transitional master-slave operation (S44) mode, the coefficient α in the equation (3) is expressed by the sign of the time deviation Δθ _m of the attitude of the master part 8 and the sign of the angular deviation d of the master part 8 and the slave part 9. Describe how to determine the value. Here, the difference between the two symbols can be determined by the symbol D shown in Equation (4). If D is positive, both signs are equal, and if D is negative, both signs are different.
D = Δθ _m × d Formula (4)

When D> 0, that is, when the sign of the temporal deviation of the posture of the master unit 8 is equal to the sign of the angular deviation of the master unit 8 and the slave unit 9, the operator changes the posture of the master unit 8 to the current slave unit. It means that the user is operating in a direction away from the posture 9. At this time, it is possible to generate the posture target value of the slave unit 9 so as to catch up with the posture angle of the master unit 8 by determining the coefficient α so as to satisfy the expression (5) (acceleration tracking target generation) (S45). .
α> 1 Formula (5)

When D <0, that is, when the sign of the time deviation of the master unit posture is different from the sign of the angular deviation of the master unit 8 and the slave unit 9, the operator changes the posture of the master unit 8 to that of the current slave unit 9. It means that you are operating in a direction to approach the posture. At this time, by determining the coefficient α so as to satisfy the expression (6), the posture target value of the slave unit 9 can be generated so that the posture of the master unit can catch up (deceleration following target generation) (S46).
0 ≦ α <1 Formula (6)

The transitional master-slave operation mode (S44) is one of the cases described above. In any case, if the operator stops the master unit 8, the slave unit target value is set regardless of the value of the coefficient α. Since the temporal deviation Δθ _s becomes zero, the slave unit 9 stops (stop target generation) (S47). That is, even in the transitional master-slave operation mode (S44), when the operator wants to stop the slave unit 9 in an arbitrary posture, the operation of the master unit 8 may be stopped as it is. Realization of operation.

  The arithmetic unit 14 monitors the magnitude of d expressed by the equation (1) sequentially for each control cycle or at predetermined intervals. When d = 0, the master unit 8 and the slave unit 9 are monitored. Since there is no angle deviation, the posture angles of the two coincide with each other, and the operation mode is changed to the normal master-slave operation.

  Up to this point, in order to make the explanation easy to understand, an example in which the normal master-slave operation mode is set as the normal master-slave operation mode in which the operation ratio of the master unit and the slave unit are set equal. Have said. Next, the method for setting the coefficient α will be described in an expanded manner so as to be compatible with various master-slave operation modes.

In a normal master-slave operation, the posture operation ratio of the master unit 8 and the slave unit 9 is changed for the purpose of improving operability. For example, the posture change of the slave unit 9 is halved with respect to the posture change of the master unit 8. Such a setting is a method used when a fine movement of the same scale is difficult in the master unit 8 when a fine movement is requested from the slave unit 9. On the other hand, there is a case where the posture change of the slave unit 9 is doubled with respect to the posture change of the master unit 8 to reduce the operation amount of the operator and reduce the burden. As described above, in the normal master-slave operation mode, the operation ratio may be changed as shown in Expression (7).
Δθ _s = β Δθ _m equation (7)

In the case of a medical manipulator having such a normal master-slave operation mode, the transitional master-slave operation mode can be defined as Equation (8) obtained by converting Equation (3).
Δθ _s = α · (β Δθ _m ) Equation (8)

Summarizing Equation (3) and Equation (8), the relationship between the slave target value and the master unit posture in the transitional master-slave operation mode can be defined by Equation (9).
Δθ _s = α _ext Δθ _m Formula (9)

The coefficient α _ext can be expressed as follows using the coefficient β determined by the operation ratio of the normal master-slave operation and the intention of the designer.
0 ≦ α _ext ≦ β (D <0) Formula (10)
α _ext ≧ β (D> 0) Formula (11)

  By the way, in the medical manipulator having a normal master-slave operation, a structure that keeps the operation range of the master unit 8 larger than the slave unit 9 is taken, and the angle of the master unit 8 is read as shown in FIG. 6 (S61), The angle is subjected to saturation processing (S62), a target value of the slave unit 9 is generated (S63), further saturation processing is performed (S64), and drive output is performed (S65). In the transitional master-slave operation mode, since the master-slave operation is realized in a pseudo state even in a state where the posture relationship between the master unit 8 and the slave unit 9 is different, a function that also uses a portion that is saturated The operability can be improved by providing. Here, in the normal master-slave operation mode and the transitional master-slave operation mode, whether saturation processing of the master unit 8, that is, whether the posture output value of the insensitive area in the normal master-slave operation mode is rounded down or used Complicating the determination and the case-separation process based on the determination result is complicated. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, the master unit attitude is read (S71), target value generation suitable for the operation mode and operation method is performed (S72), and then saturation processing is performed (S73) and drive output is performed (S74). Prepare the process. With this function, not only in the normal master-slave operation mode, but also in the transitional master-slave operation mode, a drive output exceeding the operation range of the slave unit 9 is prevented, and a safe medical manipulator is obtained. In addition, since the master unit 8 can be operated arbitrarily by the operator, the operation speed is also arbitrary. However, in actuality, the operation speed of the motor that drives the slave unit 9 and the operation speed of the transmission system are not limited. Since there is a limit value, processing is performed so as not to exceed the operation speed limit value of the slave unit 9.

  From the above, the transitional master-slave operation mode according to the present invention satisfies the expressions (9), (10), and (11). Note that in the case of adopting an operation method in which the operation directions of the master unit 8 and the slave unit 9 are changed, the sign of α may be reversed, and the setting of the magnitude of α satisfies the above equation.

  Here, an application of setting the coefficient α in the equation (3) will be described. As shown in FIG. 8, in a medical manipulator having a total of three degrees of freedom, including a yaw axis, a roll axis, and a gripper axis as additional degrees of freedom as posture degrees of freedom, the slave part of the manipulator Has an operating range of ± 90 degrees for the yaw axis, ± 180 degrees for the roll axis, and 30 degrees for the gripper axis (one angle) with respect to the reference posture (with 0 degrees closed). The coefficient β for normal master-slave operation was set as shown in equation (12). This is β = 1.

この医療用マニピュレータは、ロール軸の動作範囲が他の２軸より比較的大きいことから、遷移的マスタスレーブ動作において、係数を式（１３）、（１４）のように決めた。

In this medical manipulator, since the operation range of the roll axis is relatively larger than the other two axes, the coefficients are determined as in equations (13) and (14) in the transitional master-slave operation.

このように制御する軸ごとに係数αの値を変え、遷移的マスタスレーブ動作の動作速度を軸ごとに変えることで操作性を調整できる。また、この係数調整を、医療用マニピュレータシステムに装備されたインターフェイス、例えば制御装置に外部接続した端末などで、操作者が任意に設定変更を可能とし、設定値を演算部で読み取り作業部を制御することで、操作者の好みに合わせた調整ができる医療用マニピュレータとなる。

In this way, the operability can be adjusted by changing the value of the coefficient α for each controlled axis and changing the operation speed of the transitional master-slave operation for each axis. In addition, this coefficient adjustment can be changed arbitrarily by the operator using an interface equipped in the medical manipulator system, such as a terminal externally connected to the control device, and the setting value is read by the calculation unit and the working unit is controlled. By doing so, it becomes a medical manipulator that can be adjusted according to the preference of the operator.

In the transition master-slave operation, the operation responsiveness is regarded as important, and the transitional master-slave operation mode posture alignment is realized without reducing the speed from the normal master-slave operation speed as follows. Since it is desired to adjust the posture while stopping the deceleration tracking, the α _ext value when D <0 is set to β. Thus, when the master unit approaches the slave unit (D <0), the posture difference is not eliminated, but the speed does not decrease, and the master unit operates so as to move away from the slave unit (D> 0). Resolve the posture difference.

On the other hand, when safety is emphasized and the increase in speed is to be eliminated, the acceleration follow-up is stopped in the transitional master-slave operation mode, so the α _ext value when D> 0 is set to β, and the attitude difference is not resolved. However, it does not cause an increase in speed. Instead, α _ext is determined so as to eliminate the posture difference when D <0.

Note that when both the α _ext values are β regardless of the sign of D, the slave portion operates relative to the movement of the master portion while the deviation d is maintained. This can be used when the structure of the master part is different from that of the slave part, for example, when operating with a relative input device such as a switch or lever operation.

  That is, it is configured to have a function of selecting an operation method in the transitional master-slave operation mode by setting the parameter.

  Here, an example in which the present invention is applied in resuming the master-slave operation will be described. For the purpose of improving operability, there is a method in which an arbitrary operation axis of the slave unit is controlled and restrained during the master-slave operation. The state in which an arbitrary axis is constrained means that a part of the master / slave operation axis is intentionally set to the non-master / slave operation mode, and the present invention can be applied even when returning to the normal master / slave operation again. The transitional master-slave operation may be performed on the constrained axis with the constraint release as a master-slave operation start command.

  When the medical manipulator is operated in master-slave operation, the actual thread is set against the target value of the generated slave unit, for example, the treatment thread gets entangled in the joint of the manipulator or an excessive load is applied to the tip of the manipulator. The posture of the part is shifted. In such a case, the medical manipulator needs to present an abnormal signal to an operation state presenter and the like to notify the operator and the like, to eliminate the abnormal state, and to immediately recover the safety of the operation. When the medical manipulator is restarted after removing the cause of the abnormality, the slave unit posture different from the previous target value when the abnormality occurs is replaced with the current slave unit target value. At this time, since an attitude deviation with the master unit occurs, when eliminating this, by using the transitional master-slave operation according to the present invention by recognizing the abnormal signal and storing the recovery processing procedure in the arithmetic unit in advance. The normal master-slave operation can be quickly restored, that is, the operation can be continued quickly and safely.

  When shifting from the non-master-slave operation mode to the master-slave operation mode, if safety is ensured, the operability is better when the posture is adjusted by automatic operation. For example, there is a case where the slave unit before being inserted into the body does not collide with anything within the operating range. The medical manipulator system is provided with an input switch for distinguishing and commanding posture alignment by automatic operation (for example, Patent Document 2 (named here as automatic transition operation)) and posture alignment according to the present invention, and the arithmetic unit monitors operation command The input may be read during the process, and the switching may be performed during the operation determination process. In this way, a medical manipulator with improved operability is realized by having a switching function between automatic transition operation and transitional master-slave operation in posture alignment. Note that if the operation command monitoring process and the operation determination process are processed by the calculation unit for each axis, the switching of the attitude alignment method can be performed for each attitude axis.

  As a structure of the master unit, there is a case where a force torque sensor is arranged on the posture axis and force or torque is transmitted to the calculation unit as information from the master unit. At this time, the calculation unit converts force and torque information into position or speed information and calculates a slave unit target value. By providing the function of converting force torque information into position or velocity information, a transitional master-slave operation mode can be applied.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a medical integrated manipulator system. FIG. The schematic block diagram of the medical manipulator main body. The schematic block diagram of a control apparatus. The flowchart showing the process of a calculating part. The flowchart explaining the process of operation | movement determination among the process processes of a calculating part. The figure showing the saturation processing order used in the conventional master slave operation mode. The figure showing the saturation processing order used in transitional master slave operation mode. The figure showing the slave part front-end | tip which showed the freedom degree structural example of the medical manipulator.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Medical manipulator main body 2 Control apparatus 3 Command input means 5 Operation | movement state presentation device 8 Master part 9 Slave part 10 Connection part 22 Angle detector (slave part)
23 Angle detector (master unit)

Claims (3)

A master unit that commands the operation;
A slave unit having a working unit and operating according to a command of the master unit;
A detector for detecting the posture angle of each of the master unit and the slave unit;
A control device that controls the slave unit according to a command from the master unit,
The control device is configured to calculate a deviation between the master unit posture and the slave unit posture, and to compare a non-master-slave operation mode, a master-slave operation mode, and a non- A function of determining any one of the transitional master-slave operation modes for transitioning from the master-slave operation mode to the master-slave operation mode,
The operating range of the master unit is larger than the operating range of the slave unit,
In the master-slave operation mode, saturation processing is performed in a range larger than the operation range of the slave unit in the operation range of the master unit,
In the transitional master-slave operation mode, a master-slave manipulator using an attitude output value for at least a part of a range larger than the operation range of the slave unit in the operation range of the master unit.   In the transitional master-slave operation mode, the control device sets the posture target value of the slave unit to the posture angle of the master unit according to the difference between the sign of the deviation and the sign of the temporal deviation of the master unit posture. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a function of performing either an acceleration tracking target generation for catching up or a deceleration tracking target generation for allowing the attitude angle of the master unit to catch up with the attitude target value. Master-slave manipulator.   3. The master-slave manipulator according to claim 2, wherein the control device has a function of performing a saturation process after performing the acceleration tracking target generation or the deceleration tracking target generation.

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