Development of a teleoperated micromanipulation system with visual and haptic feedback

Abstract

Concerning the teleoperation between different scale worlds, it is important to take into account the scaling effect problem in terms of manipulator precision, human sensation, environment accessibility, dexterity, etc. To consider these different problems, this paper presents the development of a new macro-micro teleoperated micromanipulator, with two kinds of micromanipulation systems: a piezoelectric microgripper and an atomic force microscope (AFM) operating under an optical microscope. The natural force feedback sensation exerted on the piezoelectric microgripper is given through a teleoperated two-fingered planar hand mechanism. This system provides the human operator with natural force feedback sensation and augmented visual feedback while telemanipulating objects in the micro world. Firstly, the bilateral control system with active force feedback based on hybrid master-slave technologies is modeled. The results include the use of force feedback and power assist in order to demonstrate the feasibility and practicability of the micro-teleoperated system. Then, in order to improve the visual feedback issued form the optical microscope of the station, a virtual micro 3D environment is proposed. By combining 2D microscope images and augmented reality-based programming techniques, we reconstructed exactly the operational microworld. Finally, some experiments have been carried out in order to verify the validity of the proposed bilateral control scheme and to calibrate the developed virtual model incorporating visual and haptic feedback.