Transforming Human Hand Motion for Telemanipulation

Abstract

Manipulation by teleoperation (telemanipulation) offers an apparently straightforward and less computationally expensive route toward dextrous robotic manipulation than automated control of multifingered robotic hands. The functional transformation of human hand motions into equivalent robotic hand motions, however, presents both conceptual and analytical problems. This paper reviews and proposes algorithmic methods for transforming the actions of human hands into equivalent actions of slave multifingered robotic hands. Forward positional transformation is considered only, the design of master devices, feedforward dynamics, and force feedback are not considered although their importance for successful telemanipulation is understood. Linear, nonlinear, and functional mappings are discussed along with performance and computational considerations.