ANTI IROPOMORP}IIC TEI.l~MANII’UI.KI’ION SYSTEM IN TERMINUS CONTROL MODE 13runo

The paper describes a prototype anthropomorphic kinesthetic telepresence system that is being developed at JP1.. It utilizes dexterous terminus devices in form of an exoskeleton force-sensing master glove worn by the operator and a replica four finger anthropomorphic slave hand. The newly developed master glove is integrated with our previously developed non-anthropomorphic six degree-of-freedom (DOI;) universal force-reflecting hand controller (FRIIC). The mechanical hand and forearm are mounted to an industrial robot (PUMA 560), replacing its standard forearm. The notion of “terminus control mode” refers to the fact that on] y the terminus devices (glove and robot hand) are of anthropomorphic nature, and the master and slave arms are non-anthropomorphic. The system is controlled by a high performance distributed controller. Control electronics and computing architecture were custom developed for this telernanipula.ton system. The system is currently being evaluated, focusing on tool handling and astronaut equivalent task executions. The evaluation revealed the system’s potential for tool handling but it also became evident that hand tool manipulations and space operations require a dual arm robot.