JPS62208881A - Master/slave manipulator - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a master-slave manipulator, and more particularly to a master-slave manipulator that improves operability by transmitting to the operator the sense of contact between the slave side arm and a workpiece. .

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

Problems with the Prior Art In the master-slave manipulator, when the driver manipulates the master arm, the slave arm follows suit.
This is a device that allows a driver to handle objects remotely without directly touching them, and is often used to handle objects that cannot be touched directly by humans, such as nuclear materials.

When manipulating objects, humans skillfully use the sense of force and touch to perform extremely delicate manual tasks, but early master-slave manipulators had the ability to transmit the sense of touch and force to the driver. Because there was no such thing, it was extremely difficult to operate. Later, a master-slave manipulator was devised that uses a force feedback method to detect the force received by the slave arm as torque on the drive shaft of the slave side joint and transmit it to the drive shaft of the master arm joint, greatly improving operability.

However, there is still no means to convey the sense of contact to the driver, so there are still problems with operability.

[Purpose of the invention]

The object of the present invention was to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art as described above, and to provide a master-slave manipulator with good operability, which is equipped with a device that transmits the sense of touch felt by the slave-side hand to the hand of the master arm operator. Our goal is to provide the following.

[Summary of the invention]

The present invention has been made to achieve the above object.

The master-slave manipulator includes a contact sensor disposed at a contact portion of the slave side arm with the workpiece, and a vibrator disposed at the operation site of the master side arm and excited in response to an output signal from the contact sensor. This is a master-slave manipulator characterized by the following.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, the sense of contact between the slave-side arm and the workpiece can be transmitted through vibrations generated in the hand of the operator operating the mask-side arm, so the operability of the master-slave manipulator can be greatly improved. .

[Embodiments of the invention]

Examples of the present invention will be described below. Figure 1 shows an example of the basic structure of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a contact sensor attached to the tip of the slave arm, which can be easily realized using a strain sensor, piezoelectric element, pressure-sensitive rubber, etc. that operates with minute pressure. It is possible.

2 is an amplifier that amplifies the signal from the contact sensor 1.

Reference numeral 3 denotes a vibrator attached to a portion of the operating hand of the master arm that is in contact with the driver's finger, and is excited by the output of the amplifier 2. This vibrator 3 is composed of, for example, a piezoelectric actuator, an electromagnetic actuator, or a magnetostrictive actuator.

Among these, as shown in FIG. 2 as an example of the contactor 3,
The vibrator 3 using the electromagnetic actuator 20 is placed substantially in the same shape as the surface 4' at a position that closes the entrance of the opening 22 carved in the mask-side arm surface 4' that is touched by the human hand 2. It consists of a plate 4 and a permanent magnet 5 which supports the diaphragm 4 at one end and is driven by a current output from the amplifier 2 and flowing through a coil 6 to vibrate in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface 4'.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 3, the vibrator 3 using the electromagnetic actuator 30 is placed substantially flush with the surface 31' at a position where the mask-side arm closes the entrance of the opening 32 carved in the surface 31'. The diaphragm 31 arranged in a shape, and the diaphragm 31
A diaphragm 31 is supported at one end and fixed at the bottom of the opening 32 at the other end, and a diaphragm 31 is fixed at one end to the support 7 and is driven by the current output from the amplifier 2 and flowing through the coil 33.
and a permanent magnet 34 that vibrates through the support 7 in a direction substantially horizontal to the surface 31'.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the vibrator 3 using the laminated piezoelectric actuator 40 has a mask-side arm surface 41'.
surface 41 at a position that closes the entrance of the opening 42 carved in the surface 41.
' A diaphragm 41 arranged substantially coplanar with the diaphragm 41 and a diaphragm 41 arranged in a stacked manner between this imaging plate 41 and the bottom of the opening 42 , which are ejected from the amplifier 2 and supplied by the electrode lead wire 10 . The piezoelectric element 43 is driven by an electric current and vibrates the diaphragm 41 in a direction perpendicular to the surface 41'.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 5 as an example of using the bimorph type piezoelectric actuator 5°, at a position where the entrance of the opening 52 carved in the mask-side arm surface 51' is closed, it is approximately the same as the surface 51'. A diaphragm 51 arranged in a plane, a support 57 that supports the diaphragm 51 at one end and is fixed to the bottom of the opening 52 at the other end, and is fixed to the side of the support 57 and outputs from the amplifier 2. The vibrator 3 is constituted by a bimorph piezoelectric actuator 53 which is driven by a current supplied by the electrode lead wire 11 and which excites the diaphragm 51 via the support 7 in a direction substantially horizontal to the surface 51'. . The vibrator 3 causes the operator to feel vibrations at the fingertip 54 in response to the signal from the contact sensor 1.

When the tip of the slave side arm comes into contact with the workpiece in this way, the signal of the contact sensor 1 turns on.

By amplifying the signal and vibrating the vibrator 3 at the tip of the master arm to apply minute vibrations of each actuator to the driver's tip, the sense of contact detected by the slave arm can be transmitted to the driver of the master arm. can.

Originally, the human sense of touch occurs at the part of the body that is in contact with the human skin, so it has been impossible to indirectly convey the type of touch on the surface of an object to humans through the object it is made of.

However, if the device of the present invention is used to locally vibrate a part of the surface of an object that is in contact with human skin using a contact sensor signal, it is possible to detect contact in areas that are not directly touched by human hands. Can convey sensations to humans. Therefore, the operability of the master-slave manipulator is further improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
5 through 5 are sectional views showing various modifications of the vibrator of the same embodiment. 1... Contact sensor 2... Amplifier 3... Vibrator Agent Patent attorney Noriyuki Chika Yudo Kikuo Takehana Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] The master-slave manipulator includes a contact sensor disposed at a contact portion of the slave side arm with the workpiece, and a vibrator disposed at the operation site of the master side arm and excited in response to an output signal from the contact sensor. A master-slave manipulator characterized by: