Proceedings on Automation in Medical Engineering
Vol. 1 No. 1 (2020): Proc AUTOMED
An intuitive interface for null space visualization and control of redundant surgical robots
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Copyright (c) 2020 Proceedings on Automation in Medical Engineering
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Abstract
Surgery robots used to position instruments maybe redundant and therefore have null space movements which allows changing the robot’s shape without changing the desired end-effector pose. However, null space movements are often not intuitive and challenging to predict for human operators. We propose a simple interface to visualize possible null space based on a user input using force/torque sensor. The interface was implemented and tested successfully for a 7-degrees-of-freedom KUKA LBR iiwa robot. This interface was designed for any medical personnel to preview possible robot’s shapes and select a favorable one while the main surgeon independently teleoperates the end-effector pose.