Effect of force and acoustic feedback on object-insertion work by teleoperation

Abstract

The operating efficiency of teleoperation under stereoscopic video images has been reported to be inferior to that of using the naked eye at a real working environment. A human operator working at an actual work location is aided by force, tactile, and acoustic senses in addition to vision. Conventional teleoperated robots lack sense information, except vision, which may explain operators’ inefficient cognition of the working space. Therefore, using stereoscopic video images, we intend to clarify effects of force and acoustic feedback information on the performance of the teleoperation work. Experiment 1 produces a system that can acquire touch-information by the site of the master robot; it elucidates the influence of force and acoustic feedback information in work. Human operators are required to pick up a cylindrical object and insert it into a hole. The experiment shows that feedback of simple touch-information by force and acoustic feedback was not effective to shorten the completion-time. Experiment 2, in force feedback conditions, directs a user to search a hole by sliding a cylindrical object on its surface. Experimental results indicate that the working efficiency was improved by force information using a sliding sense. Experiment 3 investigated effects of sound when the cylindrical object was oriented such that it could be inserted in a hole and the hole was approached in a state of contact. Experimental results demonstrate that working efficiency was not improved by presentation of acoustic information.