Design of a 6-DOF haptic interface for robotic teleoperation

Abstract

Teleoperation has become increasingly important in medical applications, handling hazardous materials, as well as in other robotics applications. Force feedback in such systems is essential; therefore a haptic device is needed in order to allow the user to feel the reactive forces between the slave manipulator and the environment. Our main research focus is the design of a six degrees of freedom parallel robot to be used as a master haptic interface in internet-based teleoperation. This parallel robot is based on two five-bar linkage mechanisms leading to a low weight, compact, and efficient haptic device with a promising successful implementation for telerobotic applications such as endoscopic surgery.