TY - CHAP T1 - Teleimpedance Control: Overview and application T2 - Human and Robot Hands Y1 - 2016 A1 - A. Ajoudani A1 - S. B. Godfrey A1 - N. G. Tsagarakis A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Robotics AB -

In previous chapters, human hand and arm kinematics have been analyzed through a synergstic approach and the underlying concepts were used to design robotic systems and devise simplified control algorithms. On the other hand, it is well-known that synergies can be studied also at a muscular level as a coordinated activation of multiple muscles acting as a single unit to generate different movements. As a result, muscular activations, quantified through Electromyography (EMG) signals can be then processed and used as direct inputs to external devices with a large number of DOFs. In this chapter, we present a minimalistic approach based on tele-impedance control, where EMGs from only one pair of antagonistic muscle pair are used to map the users postural and stiffness references to the synergy-driven anthropomorphic robotic hand, described in chapter 6. In this direction, we first provide an overview of the teleimpedance control concept which forms the basis for the development of the hand controller. Eventually, experimental results evaluate the effectiveness of the teleimpedance control concept in execution of the tasks which require significant dynamics variation or are executed in remote environments with dynamic uncertainties.

JF - Human and Robot Hands VL - Springer Series on Touch and Haptic Systems ER -