What is it about?

Space manipulators are an important aspect in advancing our reach into space. To fully utilized these manipulators, we need to develop better, more intuitive controllers that operators can easily use. We demonstrate a possible control method that utlizes an exoskeleton and virtual reality to immerse the operator in the robot's environment, and allow them to control the robot as if it was their own arm. By mapping the exoskeleton's cartesian pose and it's elbow orientation to that of the commanded manipulator, full control of the arm can be achieved. By providing physical feedback and a virtual, immersive environment, the operator can feel as though the manipulator is an extension of their own self, and provide them the feeling of telepresence.

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Why is it important?

Developing better human interfaces for robots allows for better, faster, and safer control, increasing productivity and confidence during operation. The current standard for human-robot interfaces does not provide full control of highly dexterous robots, and requires slow and meticulous movements to complete tasks. Having a system like an exoskeleton and virtual reality environment that provides full control, physical feedback, and visual feedback can allow for robot operators to accomplish tasks quicker, safer, and with more confidence.

Perspectives

This paper represents the current culmination of my work as an undergraduate researcher, and provides a stepping stone for future work to build off of. My colleagues (the co-authors) have been immensely supportive of my work, and immensely helpful in completing it. While this paper is rough around the edges, and features some typos (all of which were my fault), as my first paper of hopefully more to come, I'm proud of it. Hopefully it is able to provide others a foundation for their own work, or at least some insight into how one might control a robotic arm with an exoskeleton. Check out the corrections too!

Romeo Perlstein
University of Maryland at College Park

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This page is a summary of: Immersive Teleoperation of Simulated Robotic Manipulators Using an Exoskeleton, January 2025, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA),
DOI: 10.2514/6.2025-1192.
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