Abstract
This paper examines the combination control of the manual operation and the autonomous motion on tele-operation of mobile robot. The autonomous motion that is suitable for the situation when the robot passes through a passage with bends is examined to improve the maneuverability with using a computer simulation. The situation that the manually operated robot contacts with the sidewall of a passage is investigated with the experiments. It is pointed out that the contact tends to occur around the entrance and exit of bends: a robot tends to contact with the inside near the entrance of the bend and the outside around the exit of the bend. The situation that the operator uses the autonomous motion of the mobile robot under the combination control is also investigated with the experiments. The operator tends to use the autonomous following (FL) near the entrance, and the autonomous revolution (RV) is effective to make the robot return to the center of the passage around the exit. From these situation analyses the selective-revolution/following (S-R/F) is developed in which the situation is estimated based on the direction of the manual operation of the operator and the direction of the obstacle from the robot then the autonomous revolution or the autonomous following is selected and applied according to the estimated situation. The new technique is equipped with the simulation system and it is confirmed that the autonomous revolution against the operator's intention is not applied based on the situation, so the maneuverability can be improved.
