Systems and Control Inspired by Biology

Richard Q. van der Linde; Göran A.V. Christiansson

Teleoperated gripper tools enable operations in dangerous or difficult environments avoiding the hazards of direct human presence. The current design of teleoperator slave robots is focused on precise sensors, stiff structures and fast controllers. This approach results in high haptic performance, but makes the system sensitive, potentially dangerous and expensive.

An alternative design is found in biological systems. The slenderness and stability of a human arm stands in a bright contrast to e.g. industrial robots. Two of the most important differences in the constitution of a robotic arm and a human arm are control principles and actuator properties. A new approach for teleoperator slave design is proposed using the control and actuator properties found in biology.