A 6-DOF manipulator for miniature tasks

Abstract

This research work is a novel design of a general purpose 6-DOF master-slave system for miniature tasks. The work focuses on design of a slave manipulator based on a serial mechanism. Many significant criteria are considered in the design process, for instance, workspace, task approach, and comfortable user interaction. Concerning the workspace and task approach, the slave robot was designed to operate in both large (coarse motion) and limited space (fine motion) by switching between coarse and fine control scheme. The coarse one will be applied for moving in large travelling distances. On the other hands, another scheme will be used for approaching and working with-in the small workspace delicately. Furthermore, its configurations are formed based on the master device, which can be performed effectively by an operator. In this case, Phantom Omni, a commercial haptic device from Sensible Technologies Company, is selected as the master arm. Thanks to its 6-DOF positional sensing, this device can provide enough motion information, 3 for positions and 3 for orientation, to control the slave manipulator. Finally, in the experimental setup, a CCTV camera with high scale zooming is installed in the system to improve operation as an operator can view real-time images during performing a miniature task.