Bilateral force feedback control based on dynamic reconfiguration of system connection for safety operation

Recently, haptic information is studied as the third multimedia information. In order to control haptic information, bilateral control with a master-slave system is used widely. Since the plural systems are handled, it becomes important to think of the connection condition among the systems. In this paper, the multilateral control which changes the system connection depending on movement of the operator is proposed. The system connection is able to be changed without a switch by this proposed control. By using this proposed system, an operator can feel the environmental reaction force in the distant place. Moreover the operator can feel binding force from the system by changing the system connection when the slave system goes to the dangerous space. The effectiveness of this proposal is shown by an experiment.