Functional Factors in Telemanipulation Systems Effect of System Bandwidth in Task Performance

This work presents a definition of functional factors of the telemanipulation system and propose a factors’ classification. Using this classification an experimental study was carried out in order to find the effect of system bandwidth in task performance. Three principal factors affected by system bandwidth were studied: Image resolution, frame rate and actualization rate of control commands. Another two important system’s factors were studied: Movement control and force feedback-mode. The study was carried out using a connector insertion task with a PUMA 560 robot as a slave. Completion time, SOSF (Sum of Squared Forces), maximum insertion forces and insertion errors were the dependent analyzed variables. Results showed that movement control and force feedback-mode were the more important factors. However, the other factors showed important effects over task performance; each of these factors affect the task in different manner. For each task condition there is a factor that is more important than others.