CHS: Small: Understanding Environment Perception and Task Performance in Human-in-the-Loop Tele-robotic Systems (HiLTS)

CHS：小型：了解人在环远程机器人系统 (HiLTS) 中的环境感知和任务性能

基本信息

批准号：
1910939
负责人：
Jeremy Brown
金额：
$ 49.67万
依托单位：
Johns Hopkins University
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Continuing Grant
财政年份：
2019
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2019-10-01 至 2024-09-30
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1910939&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
CHS Small Understanding Environment Perception

项目摘要

The human body is highly capable of dexterous manipulation. This dexterity is developed and refined over many years based on touch or tactile feedback from repeated practice performing manipulation tasks in many different environments with varying types of constraints. There are situations, however, where constraints on the environment or body prevent direct manipulation. For these situations, such as minimally invasive surgical robots, bomb disposal robots, and prosthetic limbs, manipulation can be provided through the use of collaborative robots. Such robots or haptic devices, called human-in-the-loop telerobotic systems (HiLTS), provide the much-needed tactile feedback as with the natural limbs working on the manipulations directly. HiLTS are designed to extend and, in some circumstances, improve the dexterous capabilities of the human operator in virtual and remote environments. However, the information that the human user receives from the haptic devices can be distorted by the hardware and software mechanisms used. Existing research focus mostly on providing stability of the haptic devices as humans explore a remote environment and such a focus on stability can typically lead to a trade-off in the information (such as stiffness) pertaining to the physical properties of the remote environment. This project, therefore, seeks to understand how the trade-off between stability and stiffness affect the user's understanding of a remote environment and the ability to perform dexterous tasks in the environment. This knowledge can then be used to improve the functionality of collaborative robotic systems used in many different application contexts, including healthcare, defense, and manufacturing. This project addresses the research issues in providing dexterous manipulations through haptic feedback in telerobotic systems. Dexterous manipulation, however, depends on how well the telerobot is incorporated into the operator's sensorimotor control scheme. Empirical evidence suggests that haptic feedback can lead to improved dexterity. Unfortunately, the addition of haptic feedback, in particular, kinesthetic feedback can introduce dynamics between the leader and follower of the telerobot that can affect both stability and device performance. Concerted research efforts have focused on making these device dynamics transparent to the operator while preserving stability. True transparency, however, represents a theoretical ideal rather than an attainable goal. Therefore, the project team will explore the effect of "reduced transparency" by establishing an empirical understanding of the effect of a telerobot's closed-loop leader/follower dynamics on the perception of a remote environment and performance in tasks requiring knowledge of that environment. Utilizing a generalized telerobotic testbed that features a rigid mechanical, dynamic mechanical, and dynamic electromechanical transmission, the research team will (1) independently and collectively investigate haptic perception of environment stiffness and damping using a mechanical teleoperator with rigid and dynamic leader/follower transmissions, (2) investigate performance in two functional tasks requiring knowledge of environment dynamics using a rigid mechanical teleoperator and an electromechanical teleoperator with closed-loop leader/follower dynamics, and (3) investigate haptic perception and functional task performance with bimanual mechanical and electromechanical teleoperators that have symmetric and asymmetric leader/follower dynamics. Investigations will also consider the utility of visual feedback in addition to haptic sensory feedback. Overall, this research will lead to telerobots that come closer to being embodied by their operators and will lead to improved human-robot collaborative capabilities in HiLTS that will have benefits in many different industries including healthcare, defense, and manufacturing.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

人体具有很强的灵巧操控能力。这种灵活性是基于在具有不同类型的约束的许多不同环境中重复练习执行操作任务的触摸或触觉反馈而经过多年发展和完善的。然而，在某些情况下，环境或身体的限制会妨碍直接操作。对于这些情况，例如微创手术机器人、拆弹机器人、假肢等，都可以通过协作机器人来提供操控。这种机器人或触觉设备被称为人机回路远程机器人系统（HiLTS），可提供急需的触觉反馈，就像直接进行操作的自然肢体一样。 HiLTS 旨在扩展并在某些情况下提高操作员在虚拟和远程环境中的灵巧能力。然而，人类用户从触觉设备接收到的信息可能会因所使用的硬件和软件机制而失真。现有的研究主要集中在当人类探索远程环境时提供触觉设备的稳定性，并且这种对稳定性的关注通常会导致与远程环境的物理属性相关的信息（例如刚度）的权衡。因此，该项目旨在了解稳定性和刚度之间的权衡如何影响用户对远程环境的理解以及在该环境中执行灵巧任务的能力。这些知识可用于改进许多不同应用环境中使用的协作机器人系统的功能，包括医疗保健、国防和制造。该项目解决了通过远程机器人系统中的触觉反馈提供灵巧操作的研究问题。然而，灵巧的操纵取决于远程机器人与操作员的感觉运动控制方案的结合程度。经验证据表明触觉反馈可以提高灵活性。不幸的是，增加触觉反馈，特别是动觉反馈可能会在远程机器人的领导者和跟随者之间引入动态，从而影响稳定性和设备性能。协调一致的研究工作重点是使这些设备动态对操作员透明，同时保持稳定性。然而，真正的透明度代表的是理论上的理想，而不是可实现的目标。因此，项目团队将通过对远程机器人的闭环领导者/追随者动态对远程环境感知以及需要了解该环境的任务表现的影响建立实证理解，来探索“透明度降低”的影响。利用具有刚性机械、动态机械和动态机电传动装置的通用遥控机器人测试台，研究团队将（1）使用具有刚性和动态引导/跟随传动装置的机械遥控操作器独立和集体研究环境刚度和阻尼的触觉感知， (2) 使用刚性机械远程操作器和具有闭环领导者/跟随者动态的机电远程操作器研究需要了解环境动力学知识的两项功能任务的性能，以及 (3) 研究具有对称和不对称领导者/跟随者动力学的双手机械和机电遥控操作器的触觉感知和功能性任务表现。除了触觉反馈之外，调查还将考虑视觉反馈的效用。总体而言，这项研究将导致远程机器人更接近由操作员体现，并将提高 HiLTS 中的人机协作能力，这将为包括医疗保健、国防和制造在内的许多不同行业带来好处。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。