Gesture controlled master slave robotic arm with sensory force feedback

Robots have become the right hand of man and are moving towards advancement with each passing day. As teleoperation robots are among the first developments in robotics field back in 1950?s and is implemented in various applications today. But still there is a challenge of recreating a force feedback

Project Title

Gesture controlled master slave robotic arm with sensory force feedback

Project Area of Specialization

Robotics

Project Summary

Robots have become the right hand of man and are moving towards advancement with each passing day. As teleoperation robots are among the first developments in robotics field back in 1950’s and is implemented in various applications today. But still there is a challenge of recreating a force feedback and communicating it to the user. This lack of force feedback limits the human to interact with remote environment effectively.

This issue can be solved by developing an effective force feedback system for the gesture controlled robotic arm so that human can work in different environments and circumstances from a safe distance with the same recreated force and tactile feedback.

Our project is focused on the same problem. We propose a design of gesture controlled robotic arm to assist the human in extreme and out of reach places. But as force feedback is the most important element in human-machine interaction for controlling the machine accurately. So we aim to compliment the gesture controlled robot by means of a sensory force feedback. The designed robotic arm will be controlled by a wearable device and will mimic its motion. Mainly, a sense of touch and force feedback is provided to the operator whenever the robotic arm touches or grasps any object or thing. e.g. cutting a wire with slave robot from distance and experiencing the corresponding force applied.

This technology will provide the user to perform required tasks from distance with the same recreated feel of force as in actual. 

Project Objectives

• To fabricate 4DOF robotic arm for mimicking purpose.
• To design a wearable device for controlling the robotic arm.
• To design force detection system at the robotic arm gripper.
• To develop force feedback system to feel the detected force.

Project Implementation Method

Our project consist of 2 parts i.e.

1. Development of a gesture controlled master slave system.
2. Development of a force feedback system for master and slave.

For the gesture control system, potentiometer embedded in wearable device will change its resistance as the operator move his arm, which will accordingly control the position of servo motors attached to the robotic arm and thus will finally put the robot in the same position as operator’s arm.

For the force feedback arrangement, a force sensor will detect the force experienced by robotic arm, produce a signal which will turn an air pump on which in turn increase the size of pneumatic pads attached at the fingertips of the device. Another force sensor present at the fingertips of the device measuring the force experienced by the operator. As soon as readings of both force sensors become equal, the actuator will turn off and operator will experience same force as experienced by the robotic arm.

Benefits of the Project

• It can be used by the military in applications which are dangerous for humans but human supervision is necessary e.g. diffusing a bomb.
• This Animatronic hand can be used in health hazardous areas where human intervention can be harmful such as in chemical plants and nuclear sites.
• This technology can be beneficial for doctors in tele surgeries to operate patients with the same sense of force even when they are not present at the same location.
• The technology can also be used for the rescue operations.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

The final product will be a robotic arm which will be made of hollow aluminium pipes and servo motors at joints which will put the arm in required position. This robotic arm will be controlled by a full hand length wearable device embedded with potentiometer at each DOF for controlling the position of robotic arm, pneumatic pads and force sensors at the finger tips for creating force feedback and an air pump for driving the pneumatic pads. The whole project will be built using Arduino Mega as the microcontroller     

Final Deliverable of the Project

Hardware System

Core Industry

Security

Other Industries

Education , Agriculture , Health

Core Technology

Robotics

Other Technologies

Robotics

Sustainable Development Goals

Partnerships to achieve the Goal

Required Resources

If you need this project, please contact me on contact@adikhanofficial.com