Development of a general master arm for teleoperation considering its role as a man-machine interface

Master arm design is one of the most important issues in improving the maneuverability of master-slave manipulators. Though various types of master arm for teleoperation have been developed, no design criteria have been proposed for master arms as the man-machine interface and there are no compact master arms suitable for general use. In this paper, we discuss design criteria for a general master arm and present a new orthogonal type of master arm based on a pair of pantograph mechanisms that we have developed. This master arm is light in weight and compact, and the ergonomic switch layout on the grip was determined according to operational ease of use. The dynamic characteristics of this mechanism have been evaluated using generalized inertia tensor ellipsoids and good maneuverability has been continued in basic experiments.