A telerobot system featuring man-robot cooperative task execution

This paper proposes a new teleoperation system where man and robot cooperatively execute tasks. First, in the new system, the roles of man and robot in the generation of task procedures and task execution change dynamically. That is, while in the conventional supervisory system the role of man is limited to the generation of task procedures and that of the robot to task execution, in this new system man can participate in task execution and the robot can participate in the generation of task procedures. Second, in the new system, the generation of task procedures and task execution are interspersed. That is, while in the supervisory system a task proceeds as batch process, in the newly proposed cooperative system it proceeds interactively. MEISTER (Model Enhanced Intelligent and Skilful Teleoperational Robot) is an example of a cooperative task execution system which integrates a teleoperation oriented knowledge base, a cooperative maneuvering system, and a teleoperated-motion understanding system. A chemical experiment task demonstrates the effectiveness of man-robot cooperation. (author)