Feedback control of floor reaction force based on force-reflecting-type multilateral control

Real-world haptics is being studied not only for improving feedback on real-world haptic information in teleoperation but also for developing key technologies for future human support. For the remote operating of systems at distant places, haptic information is required in addition to visual information. The haptic information around a work environment can be the floor reaction force, which can be obtained using a movement-type haptic device. The floor reaction force from the environment that the mobile haptic device touches is fed back accurately to the operator. First, this paper proposes a general force-reflecting-type multilateral control. Second, this paper extends the control to feedback control of the floor reaction force by using force-reflecting-type multilateral control and a novel haptic device employing a biped robot with a slave system. The position response of a master system is transformed to a leg tip position command for the biped-type haptic device. In addition, the floor reaction force determined by the biped-type haptic device is fed back to the master system. The proposed method can determine the force feedback to the sole of the foot, which is not possible with a conventional stationary system. As a result, the floor reaction force from a large area can be obtained, and the operability of the control system is improved by using the proposed system.