Force Feedback Citation List March, 1995 1 AN 16644930 AU Agba-Emmanuel-I. TI SeaMaster: an ROV-manipulator system simulator. (remotely operated vehicle). SO IEEE-Computer-Graphics-and-Applications. Jan, 1995. v15(n1). p24(8). IL chart. photograph. program. AB SeaMaster is a remotely operated vehicle (ROV)-manipulator system simulator which can be used both as an individual operator training system and along with the ROV-manipulator system to rehearse and automate jobs. It offers three control modes and its object interference detection strategy allows collisions to be forecasted, objects to be moved, force-feedback to be displayed as color changes and paths to be computed automatically. It has been used in operator training and rehearsal, and there is a scope for further improvements. 2 AN 16348646 AU Colgate-JE. TI Coupled stability of multiport systems - theory and experiments. SO Journal-of-Dynamic-Systems-Measurement-and-Control. Sept, 1994. v116(n3). p419(10). IL chart. graph. photograph. AB This paper presents both theoretical and experimental studies of the stability of dynamic interaction between a feedback controlled manipulator and a passive environment. Necessary and sufficient conditions for 'coupled stabili ty' - the stability of a linear, time-invariant n-port (e.g., a robot, lineariz ed about an operating point) coupled to a passive, but otherwise arbitrary, environment - are presented. The problem of assessing coupled stabili ty for a physical system (continuous time) with a discrete time controller is then addressed. It is demonstrated that such a system may exhibit the coup led stability property; however, analytical, or even inexpensive numerica l conditions are difficult to obtain. Therefore, an approximate conditi on, based on easily computed multivariable Nyquist plots, is developed. T his condition is used to analyze two controllers implemented on a two-lin k, direct drive robot. An impedance controller demonstrates that a feedb ack controlled manipulator may satisfy the coupled stability property. A LQG/LTR controller illustrates specific consequences of failure to meet the c oupled stability criterion; it also illustrates how coupled instability may arise in the absence of force feedback. Two experimental procedures - measurem ent of endpoint admittance and interaction with springs and masses - are int roduced and used to evaluate the above controllers. Theoretical and experimen tal results are compared. CP COPYRIGHT American Society of Mechanical Engineers 1994 3 AN 16118276 AU Jeng-One-Jang. Radwin-Robert-G. Rodriquez-Arthur-A. TI Functional psychomotor deficits associated with carpal tunnel syndrome. SO Ergonomics. June, 1994. v37(n6). p1055(15). IL chart. graph. table. AB Functional impairments caused by carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) were examined by a quick pinch and release psychomotor task study. A strain gauge dynamometer was used to observe the psychomotor task performed by the median nerve activated muscles of the hand and the limited force feedback was analyzed. A comparative study of CTS afflicted subjects and those free from any hand afflictions was performed. The influential factors such as force level, inter subject variability hand dominance, learning and test retest reliability were analyzed. 4 AN 16075896 AU Liang-SY. Perry-SA. TI In-process compensation for milling cutter runout via chip load manipulation. SO Journal-of-Engineering-for-Industry. May, 1994. v116(n2). p153(8). IL chart. graph. AB This paper discusses a real-time chip load compensation methodology f or the elimination of cutting force oscillation and machined surface scallop ing due to cutter runout so as to gain better utilization of machine tools. T he concept and implementation of the methodology is illustrated using en d milling as a process of example. In this work a force feedback system was discussed in the angle domain based upon a proportional-integral cont rol strategy and a repetitive learning control strategy to actively manip ulate the chip load during end milling. Numerical simulations based on experimentally identified machining dynamics were presented to compar e the performance of the two control schemes. Experimental investigation un der various cutting conditions was performed to assess the viability of t he feedback compensation system in the context of cutting force response as well as machined surface finish. It has been shown that a proportional-int egral control has limited effectiveness in eliminating the runout-induced c utting force oscillation due to the constraints of system stability and dyna mic performance. On the other hand, the learning control system based on the internal model principal successfully yields a cutting force free of oscillatory components at the spindle frequency and significantly imp roves the quality of machined surfaces by cancelling the nonasymptotically stable dynamics of cutter runout. CP COPYRIGHT American Society of Mechanical Engineers 1994 5 AN 16088736 AU Massimino-Michael-J. Sheridan-Thomas-B. TI Teleoperator performance with varying force and visual feedback. SO Human-Factors. March, 1994. v36(n1). p145(13). IL chart. graph. AB An experimental study was conducted to determine the effects of vario us forms of visual and force feedback on human performance for several 'peg-in-hole'-type telemanipulation tasks. Each of six human test sub jects used a master/slave manipulator during two experimental sessions. In one session the subjects performed the tasks with direct vision, where su btended visual angle, force feedback, task difficulty, and the interaction of subtended visual angle and force feedback made significant difference s in task completion times. During the other session the tasks were perfor med using a video monitor for visual feedback, and video frame rate, forc e feedback, task difficulty, and the interaction of frame rate and forc e feedback were found to make significant differences in task times. An analysis between the direct and video viewing environments showed tha t apart from subtended visual angle and reduced frame rate, the video medium itself did not significantly affect task times relative to direct viewing. CP COPYRIGHT Human Factors Society Inc. 1994 6 AN 15383907 AU Youcef-Toumi-K. Gutz-DA. TI Impact and force control: modeling and experiments. SO Journal-of-Dynamic-Systems-Measurement-and-Control. March, 1994. v116(n1). p89(10). IL photograph. table. chart. graph. AB Robot manipulators and drive systems can experience instability or po or control performance after impacting with an environment. This paper p resents an analytical model for impact which is experimentally validated step-by-step. Extensive simulations and experiments are conducted to explain impact phenomena for the case of a force feedback control of a drive system. The results are based on an energy method and presented concisely in dimensionless form. To this end, a small number of dimensionless grou ps are used to characterize the impact behavior through simulations and test s. The study shows that an integral force compensation with a velocity feedb ack improves force tracking and reject impacts. It is also revealed that impact response can be tuned by selecting a favorable dimensionless ratio of force to approach velocity. CP COPYRIGHT American Society of Mechanical Engineers 1994 7 AN 15056062 AU Kahaner-David. TI Japanese activities in virtual reality. SO IEEE-Computer-Graphics-and-Applications. Jan, 1994. v14(n1). p75(4). IL photograph. AB Japanese companies, universities and government-sponsored research groups are engaged in about 20 major virtual reality (VR) research projects and as many as 80 small VR studies. Matsushita plans to release three products in spring 1994 that will bring VR technology to kitchen remodeling, massage and exercise cycling. Nippon Electric Co is developing hand agents that can grip and move onscreen images. The Kyoto Systems Research Laboratory is working on a natural interface that recognizes facial expressions and hand gestures for input. Researchers at Fujita are involved in building remote-control VR systems for construction robots. The Institute of Engineering Mathematics at the University of Tsukuba and the Product Science Research Institute have experimented separately with force feedback systems to convey VR sensory data to users. Designers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology has developed a finger-ring-based VR system. 8 AN 15056024 AU Encarnacao-Jose. Gobel-Martin. Rosenblum-Lawrence. TI European activities in virtual reality. SO IEEE-Computer-Graphics-and-Applications. Jan, 1994. v14(n1). p66(9). IL photograph. AB European businesses and nonprofit agencies in nearly every country on the continent are conducting research and development of virtual reality (VR) technology. In Germany, the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics has developed a Virtual Design toolkit for architectural, design and historical applications. UK companies Division Ltd and Advanced Robotics Research Ltd have provided, respectively, VR accelerator boards and workstations, and remote peripherals for robotics use. Another UK company, Virtuality Entertainment Systems, has made advances in VR games, including functions that allow players to integrate characteristics from virtual beings, such as voice. A number of VR demonstration centers have been set up in Germany. Projects in other countries are working on development of force feedback gloves, which use pneumatic pockets or small motors to send sensory input to users. 9 AN 15102789 AU Sukhan-Lee. Hahk-Sung-Lee. TI Modeling, design, and evaluation of advanced teleoperator control systems with short time delay. (Technical). SO IEEE-Transactions-on-Robotics-and-Automation. Oct, 1993. v9(n5). p607(17). IL chart. graph. table. AB A novel real-time teleoperator control system is designed and evaluated to achieve desired performance and robustness under shared compliance control and short time delays of up to a few seconds. For the design, the following are emphasized: 1: Telemonitoring force feedback is introduced as a new form of kinesthetic coupling. 2: Dynamic characteristics of the master and slave arms are actively modified based on generalized impedance control according to local design criteria. 3: The human dynamics involved in generating a control command based on visual and force stimuli are incorporated into the controller design. 4: To balance the robustness/performance trade-off, system performance is optimized subject to a known maximum time delay. The proposed teleoperator control system is simulated with modeled human dynamics in the control loop and compared with a number of conventional methods for evaluation. Simulation results suggest that the proposed control system is superior to conventional systems in terms of performance and robustness under short time delays and human control errors. Finally, experimental evidence is presented that supports the advantages of the proposed telemonitoring force feedback, and describe an experimental method for further validating the human dynamic model of teleoperation. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.) PT Technical 10 AN 14619284 AU Wang-Danwei. McClamroch-N-Harris. TI Position and force control for constrained manipulator motion: Lyapunov's direct method. (Technical). SO IEEE-Transactions-on-Robotics-and-Automation. June, 1993. v9(n3). p308(6). AB The use of robot manipulators frequently requires the control of the position and velocity of the end-effector and the constraint force between the end-effector and the environment. A modified computed torque controller for achieving stable position and force tracking is described. Lyapunov's direct method is utilized to develop position and force control laws for constrained manipulators. The method eliminates problems related to nonlinearities of the robot dynamics and the coupling between them and the holonomic constraints. A class of position and force feedback controllers is developed. Force feedback is found to be useful in improving specific closed loop robustness properties, but is not mandatory for closed loop stabilization. PT Technical 11 AN 14001100 AU Lumelsky-Vladimir-J. Cheung-Edward. TI Real-time collision avoidance in teleoperated whole-sensitive robot arm manipulators. SO IEEE-Transactions-on-Systems-Man-and-Cybernetics. Jan-Feb, 1993. v23(n1). p194(10). IL photograph. chart. AB In traditional teleoperation systems, the human operator is saddled with two distinct tasks: 1) moving the robot arm to its desired position, and 2) avoiding obstacles that can obstruct the arm motion. The current robot teleoperation research concentrates on providing the operator with as much input information about the task site as possible using, for example, stereo vision or contact force feedback. These methods presume that the operator is capable of planning motion for the entire body of the robot in a cluttered environment. Studies show, however, that the operators, first, cannot address both tasks in real time, and second, are not good at generating collision-free motion in a complex environment. Recent results in sensor-based motion planning suggest that the collision avoidance task can be handled automatically, thus freeing the operator for global control. To this end, it is also proposed to use whole-sensitive arm manipulators whose whole bodies are covered with a sensitive skin sensor to detect nearby objects. The data from the skin is processed by motion planning algorithms, to avoid collisions for the entire arm body in an unknown or time-varying environment. The motion of the operator-controlled master arm is either repeated faithfully by the slave arm, or, to avoid collisions, is used as general guidance. In the latter case the slave arm attempts to be as close as possible to the positions commanded by the operator, without jeopardizing its safety. The result is an efficient, safe and robust hybrid system in which integration of control by the operator and the automatic system is done transparently and in real time. CP COPYRIGHT Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. 1993 12 AN 13690544 AU Brienza-David-M. Inigo-Rafael-M. Chung-Kao-Chi. Brubaker-Clifford-E. TI Seat support surface optimization using force feedback. SO IEEE-Transactions-on-Biomedical-Engineering. Jan, 1993. v40(n1). p95(10). IL table. chart. graph. AB The development, implementation and evaluation of an algorithm designed to find optimal seat support surfaces is presented. The algorithm has been developed and implemented on an active contour measurement device. The device consists of an array of positioning elements equipped with force sensors for feedback. With a patient seated on the array, the algorithm is designed to find a seat contour that optimally satisfies given performance criteria. The performance criteria are based on measured stiffness of the soft tissues. A theoretical development of the algorithm is presented along with the modifications made to the algorithm during implementation. The results from several tests using man-made test bodies and a prototype contour gage are presented to verify the algorithm's performance. CP COPYRIGHT Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. 1993 13 AN 14168244 AU Biocca-Frank. TI Virtual reality technology: a tutorial. (Virtual Reality: A Communication Perspective). SO Journal-of-Communication. Autumn, 1992. v42(n4). p23(50). IL photograph. chart. table. AB The elements of virtual reality technology or the media in which virtual reality is created and transmitted is presented. The media is an immersive system that has developmental logic. They must create a sense of presence. The hardware of such technology include head-mounted displays using graphic software and high density resolution. Alternative display units include direct retinal write displays using low-powered lasers, aural display units, tactile displays making use of haptic units, electrotactile and vibrotactile devices as well as force feedback devices. Other equipment include exoskeletons, data gloves, olfactory devices and data suits. Central to all systems is the graphic computer. 14 AN 13411489 AU Patton-R. Swern-F. Tricamo-S. van-der-Veen-A. TI Automated cloth handling using adaptive force feedback. SO Journal-of-Dynamic-Systems-Measurement-and-Control. Dec, 1992. v114(n4). p731(3). IL chart. AB In this paper, a control loop for the handling of cloth is described and tested. The control loop is an adaptive force feedback controller which both provides correct tension on the cloth and straightens wrinkles in the cloth. The control loop was implemented and tested on a PUMA 560 robot with a LORD 15/50 force/torque sensor mounted on its wrist. Experiments demonstrate the ability of the control loop to straighten the cloth and to exert a specified tension on the cloth. CP COPYRIGHT American Society of Mechanical Engineers 1992 15 AN 12804113 AU Shandle-Jack. TI Virtual reality needs better sensors. (Technology Briefing) (Column). SO Electronic-Design. Sept 17, 1992. v40(n19). p18(1). AB Virtual reality (VR) is providing fertile ground for engineers. VR still needs an optimum position-sensing technology that uses data from head-mounted position sensors to locate a participant within the x, y, and z axes of virtual space. Current products that deliver accuracy are still too expensive for business or consumer applications. The tactile sensing and force feedback areas of VR also present a variety of opportunities. Better systems for interacting with the virtual world are needed. Improved tactile sensing in gloves are needed; micromachined devices could be the answer. Force-feedback devices are needed that can simulate real objects. VR needs real sensor technology to move beyond the most expensive applications. PT Column 16 AN 12583281 AU Churbuck-David-C. TI Applied reality. (virtual reality becomes an industrial tool) (Computers/Communications). SO Forbes. Sept 14, 1992. v150(n6). p486(4). AB Virtual reality is coming of age in the industrial world as companies, such as VPL Inc, Bechtel and Boeing, design systems for factory controls, experimental aircrafts and construction equipment, among others. Research and experimentation, however, continues in the aspect of tactile control - an area in which virtual reality technology is deficient. A basic virtual reality system manipulates abstract objects via a disembodied hand that floats in space. The movements are then translated into commands that can control the visual display. For more complex applications such as surgery, however, information that can be had from tactile manipulation is essential for precise maneuvers. Virtual reality researchers are experimenting on various approaches to solve such tactile deficiency. One approach uses tactors, or tiny switches created from a 'shape memory' nickel-titanium alloy, that are sensitive to touch. A force feedback joystick being experimented on can mimic an object's texture. 17 AN 12339165 AU Gosch-John. TI Interactive trackball relies on force-feedback sensing. SO Electronic-Design. May 1, 1992. v40(n9). p32(2). IL photograph. AB Researchers at the Institute for Perception Research in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, have designed an innovative trackball cursor control device that greatly reduces user movement and eyestrain via its ease of use and ability to sense resistive force. Unlike traditional input devices that require hand and arm movement, this new trackball is moved using a single finger. Traditional trackballs allow the cursor to move any where on the screen, causing excessive motion and eyestrain, but the new trackball can be programmed to restrict he cursor's movement. If the cursor strays into inappropriate areas, the user feels resistance and is guided back to approved areas. Eye-hand reaction time is about 30 percent less because the direct movement of the cursor by the trackball makes it easier to locate. 18 AN 12010516 AU Holloway-Richard. TI Virtual worlds research today. (University of North Carolina). SO Byte. April, 1992. v17(n4). p180(1). AB A new system under development at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill will let users 'walk through' virtual scenes with a three-dimensional interface. It combines VPL Research's EyePhone for displaying images, an optoelectronic tracker for monitoring head position and orientation and a massively parallel graphics engine for generating the images displayed on the head-mounted display. Ivan Sutherland first postulated the development of virtual worlds in 1965, and researchers at NASA-Ames, MIT and the University of North Carolina are among those who have developed new technologies to create 'artificial reality' which the user can directly experience. Major technical problems remain; image generation of complex scenes is still difficult at real-time rates, and force feedback has not yet been perfected. UNC researchers are addressing all of these issues. 1 AN 4898025. AU Sato-T. Ichikawa-J. Mitsuishi-M. Miyazaki-H. Hatamura-Y. IN Res. Center for Adv. Sci. & Technol., Tokyo Univ., Japan. TI Micro-teleoperation with manual task execution posture. SO IEEE Control Systems Magazine. vol.15, no.1. pp. 22-9. Feb. 1995. YR 1995. RN CCCC: 0272-1708/95/$04.00. AB This article describes a new micro-teleoperation system that is inherently suitable for micro-object handling since it mitigates several drawbacks associated with human interface devices. The system uses an upward-facing CRT display monitor mounted beneath a table. An operator performs micro-tasks in a sitting posture at the table while looking down at the monitor with a touch sensor screen situated between the operator's arms. To execute these tasks, microscope-observed images of the target objects are utilized in conjunction with the touch sensor screen and a specially designed, pencil-shaped master manipulator having a force-feedback function. The system incorporates the following characteristic features: (1) intuitive teleoperation is possible because coincidence of the operating and monitoring point is provided, (2) the pencil-shaped master manipulator enables sensitive bilateral micro-teleoperation because of its light weight and small inertia for movement, and (3) with the side of the right hand fixed in a pen-holder grip, the operator uses the master manipulator to generate commands with a wide dynamic range of force feedback, i.e., the operator can simultaneously feel force feedback during operation from both pressure/slip sensory receptors on the fingertips and sensory receptors which detects stretching of the finger muscles. The stated features are proved experimentally by the constructed micro-teleoperation prototype system. 2 AN 4895917. AU Massimino-M-J. IN McDonnell Douglas Aerosp., Houston, TX, USA. TI Improved force perception through sensory substitution. SO Control Engineering Practice. vol.3, no.2. pp. 215-22. Feb. 1995. YR 1995. RN CCCC: 0967-0661/95/$9.50+0.00. AB The objective of the research presented in this paper was to study the capabilities of sensory substitution for force feedback, presented to the operator of a teleoperation system, through the tactile and auditory senses. Traditional bilateral force feedback or force reflection, which applies forces to a human operator's hand or arm muscles, while generally beneficial can be limited in the operator's ability to perceive small force values. Sensory substitution for force feedback was shown in this study to increase the operator's ability to perceive small forces by allowing an increase in the effective feedback gain without risking instability or impeding the operator's inputs to the system. 3 AN 4895915. AU Liu-M-H. IN Dept. of Control Eng., Tech. Univ. Darmstadt, Germany. TI Force-controlled fuzzy-logic-based robotic deburring. SO Control Engineering Practice. vol.3, no.2. pp. 189-201. Feb. 1995. YR 1995. RN CCCC: 0967-0661/95/$9.50+0.00. AB In this paper a three-step active deburring strategy is proposed based on fuzzy logic and force feedback control. A strategy for automatic contour following is developed to identify unknown workpiece contours, to automatically generate desired robot motions, and to detect unknown burr sizes and positional inaccuracies. Under the deburring strategy the robot motion and force control are planned actively according to the detected burr sizes and positional inaccuracies. A fuzzy man-machine interface is built to make use of the knowledge of human operators to simplify the burr detection. A fuzzy model of the deburring process is developed to support the planning of deburring procedures. Implementation of and experiments with the proposed strategies are described. 4 AN 4894156. AU Chao-An-Shih. Shui-Shong-Lu. Han-Pang-Huang. IN Dept. of Mech. Eng., Nat. Taiwan Univ., Taipei, Taiwan. TI Robotic deburring with a hybrid-compliance end-effector. SO Journal of the Chinese Institute of Engineers. vol.17, no.4. pp. 499-511. July 1994. YR 1994. AB This paper presents a hybrid-compliance end-effector (HCEE) for the purpose of deburring. It is composed of springs and/or dashpots for passive compliance, and a deburring force feedback using a dc motor for active compliance. A coupled system concept taking the whole tool/workpiece system as integrated is used for the analysis. The system model includes the tool holder dynamics, the motor/controller dynamics and the deburring process. A simple proportional controller is used to provide the HCEE with active compliance. Simulation and experimental results show that the hybrid compliance end-effector design can achieve good performance results in the deburring task. 5 AN 4880743. AU Alter-D-M. Tsu-Chin-Tsao. IN Dept. of Mech. & Ind. Eng., Illinois Univ., Urbana, IL, USA. TI Dynamic stiffness enhancement of direct linear motor feed drives for machining. SO Published by: IEEE. New York, NY, USA. 1994. CT Proceedings of the 1994 American Control Conference (Cat. No.94CH3390-2). Baltimore, MD, USA. pp. 3303-7 vol.3. American Autom. Control Council. US Nat. Member Organization of IFAC. AIAA. AIChE. AISE. ASME. IEEE. ISA. SCS. 29 June-1 July 1994. YR 1994. AB Linear motion electric motors have shown promising potential for use as next generation machine tool feed drives since they can increase machining rates and improve servo accuracy by eliminating gear related mechanical problems. To combat chatter instability, large dynamic stiffness is desirable in the servo control loop. This paper investigates the use of optimal H/sub infinity / control to design for large stiffness. Position feedback alone is first considered, with cutting force feedback later added to augment closed loop stiffness. Optimal position feedback is experimentally seen to achieve up to a 46% stiffness improvement over that achievable with proportional derivative control. The addition of force feedback to the servo loop resulted in a further 70-100% stiffness improvement over the position feedback alone values. 6 AN 4879979. AU Chanezon-A. Takemura-H. Kitamura-Y. Kishino-F. IN ATR Commun. Syst. Res. Lab., Kyoto, Japan. TI A study of an operator assistant for virtual space. SO Published by: IEEE. New York, NY, USA. 1993. CT IEEE Virtual Reality Annual International Symposium (Cat. No.93CH3336-5). Seattle, WA, USA. pp. 492-8. Virtual Reality Technol. Committee IEEE Neural Networks Council. SPIE. IEEE Seattle Sect. IEEE Ind. Electron. Soc. IEEE Inf. Theory Soc. IEEE Laser & Electro Opt. Soc. IEEE Oceanic Eng. Soc. IEEE Robotics & Autom. Soc. IEEE Signal Process. Soc. 18-22 Sept. 1993. YR 1993. RN CCCC: 0 7803 1363 1/93/$3.00. AB A method to assist an operator to place an object on a surface in a virtual environment without any force feed-back tool is described and evaluated. The method used is to apply an attractive power to two faces that are likely to be attached. The system checks the distance of these faces and assists the operator by attaching two faces whose distance is less than a certain threshold. The real time calculation is achieved by limiting the number of faces that can be attached. Using this interface, the operator can move an object in some predefined planes. An experiment shows that the method is effective when the operator is requested to precisely place a virtual object in a certain location. 7 AN 4879957. AU McNeely-W-A. IN Boeing Comput. Services, Seattle, WA, USA. TI Robotic graphics: a new approach to force feedback for virtual reality. SO Published by: IEEE. New York, NY, USA. 1993. CT IEEE Virtual Reality Annual International Symposium (Cat. No.93CH3336-5). Seattle, WA, USA. pp. 336-41. Virtual Reality Technol. Committee IEEE Neural Networks Council. SPIE. IEEE Seattle Sect. IEEE Ind. Electron. Soc. IEEE Inf. Theory Soc. IEEE Laser & Electro Opt. Soc. IEEE Oceanic Eng. Soc. IEEE Robotics & Autom. Soc. IEEE Signal Process. Soc. 18-22 Sept. 1993. YR 1993. RN CCCC: 0 7803 1363 1/93/$3.00. AB A new conceptual solution is presented for the problem of providing force feedback for virtual reality, concentrating on potential CAD/CAM applications. The essential concept is that force feedback is provided by interactions between the human operator and specialized external (as opposed to worn) robots. This is called "robotic graphics" to express the analogy between robots simulating the feel of an object, and graphics displays simulating its appearance. This is illustrated by introducing the derivative concepts of "robotic shape displays" and "roboxels.". 8 AN 4879956. AU Ishii-M. Sato-M. IN Precision & Intelligence Lab., Tokyo Inst. of Technol., Midoriku, Yokohama, Japan. TI A 3D interface device with force feedback: a virtual work space for pick-and-place tasks. SO Published by: IEEE. New York, NY, USA. 1993. CT IEEE Virtual Reality Annual International Symposium (Cat. No.93CH3336-5). Seattle, WA, USA. pp. 331-5. Virtual Reality Technol. Committee IEEE Neural Networks Council. SPIE. IEEE Seattle Sect. IEEE Ind. Electron. Soc. IEEE Inf. Theory Soc. IEEE Laser & Electro Opt. Soc. IEEE Oceanic Eng. Soc. IEEE Robotics & Autom. Soc. IEEE Signal Process. Soc. 18-22 Sept. 1993. YR 1993. RN CCCC: 0 7803 1363 1/93/$3.00. AB The construction of the virtual work space for pick-and-place tasks with a new 3D interface device named SPIDAR II is discussed. The device can measure the motions of the thumb and the forefinger, and can provide the force sensations to the thumb and the forefinger. The operator can manipulate the virtual objects directly in the virtual work space using the device. The pick-and-place tasks are performed in the virtual space. The effects of the force sensations which are provided by the device are estimated. The results indicate that the appropriate forces are important for the pick-and-place task. The virtual block gives the best performance of pick-and-place tasks in virtual work space. 9 AN 4879950. AU Bostrom-M. Singh-S-K. Wiley-C-W. IN Thayer Sch. of Eng., Dartmouth Coll., Hanover, NH, USA. TI Design of an interactive lumbar puncture simulator with tactile feedback. SO Published by: IEEE. New York, NY, USA. 1993. CT IEEE Virtual Reality Annual International Symposium (Cat. No.93CH3336-5). Seattle, WA, USA. pp. 280-6. Virtual Reality Technol. Committee IEEE Neural Networks Council. SPIE. IEEE Seattle Sect. IEEE Ind. Electron. Soc. IEEE Inf. Theory Soc. IEEE Laser & Electro Opt. Soc. IEEE Oceanic Eng. Soc. IEEE Robotics & Autom. Soc. IEEE Signal Process. Soc. 18-22 Sept. 1993. YR 1993. RN CCCC: 0 7803 1363 1/93/$3.00. AB A computer-based simulation utilizing high-resolution 3D graphics and a force-feedback device to train students and/or residents in limiter puncture is discussed. The simulator consists of a combination of specialized hardware, custom software running on a high-resolution graphics workstation. The hardware under development for this project is described. The major piece of specialized hardware is the force-feedback needle simulator. Position sensors track the insertion angle or trajectory of the device, while a programmable motor or actuator provides variable resistance to insertion, depending upon which simulated anatomic structures the virtual needle is penetrating. Thus, the student may place the virtual needle at the desired angle and will feel realistic resistance while inserting. If an incorrect trajectory is used and bone is contacted, the resulting sudden sharp increase in resistance would be conveyed. 10 AN 4879948. AU Shimoga-K-B. IN Robotics Inst., Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA, USA. TI A survey of perceptual feedback issues in dexterous telemanipulation. I. Finger force feedback. SO Published by: IEEE. New York, NY, USA. 1993. CT IEEE Virtual Reality Annual International Symposium (Cat. No.93CH3336-5). Seattle, WA, USA. pp. 263-70. Virtual Reality Technol. Committee IEEE Neural Networks Council. SPIE. IEEE Seattle Sect. IEEE Ind. Electron. Soc. IEEE Inf. Theory Soc. IEEE Laser & Electro Opt. Soc. IEEE Oceanic Eng. Soc. IEEE Robotics & Autom. Soc. IEEE Signal Process. Soc. 18-22 Sept. 1993. YR 1993. RN CCCC: 0 7803 1363 1/93/$3.00. AB Some specific requirements on the design of dexterous master devices meant for teleoperating multifingered robotic hands, within the context of finger force feedback, are identified and analyzed. The requirements are of two categories, i.e., constructional and functional. The constructional issues consist of the isomorphism, portability, motion range capability, and accommodation for human hand size variability. The functional issues consist of bandwidth compatibility with the human hand (which itself has asymmetric input/output characteristics), proprioceptive (force limit) compatibility, and consideration of the psychometric stability of the human hand in sensing force magnitudes and variations. Also of importance is the sensitivity of the master device that must be more than that of the human hand. In this regard, 14 existing designs of hand masters are evaluated to see how well they satisfy the stated constructional and functional requirements. 11 AN 4879947. AU Hirota-K. Hirose-M. IN Dept. of Mechano-Inf., Toyko Univ., Japan. TI Development of surface display. SO Published by: IEEE. New York, NY, USA. 1993. CT IEEE Virtual Reality Annual International Symposium (Cat. No.93CH3336-5). Seattle, WA, USA. pp. 256-62. Virtual Reality Technol. Committee IEEE Neural Networks Council. SPIE. IEEE Seattle Sect. IEEE Ind. Electron. Soc. IEEE Inf. Theory Soc. IEEE Laser & Electro Opt. Soc. IEEE Oceanic Eng. Soc. IEEE Robotics & Autom. Soc. IEEE Signal Process. Soc. 18-22 Sept. 1993. YR 1993. RN CCCC: 0 7803 1363 1/93/$3.00. AB As a methodology to develop a force feedback system, the concept of "surface displaying" is introduced. A prototype mechanism and its control system is then designed and developed. Methodology for model calculation and simulation is discussed. The idea of texture mapping in a tactile sense is suggested, and is proven to be effective. 12 AN 4879942. AU Hashimoto-H. Kunii-Y. Buss-M. Harashima-F. IN Inst. of Ind. Sci., Tokyo Univ., Japan. TI Dynamic force simulator for force feedback human-machine interaction. SO Published by: IEEE. New York, NY, USA. 1993. CT IEEE Virtual Reality Annual International Symposium (Cat. No.93CH3336-5). Seattle, WA, USA. pp. 209-15. Virtual Reality Technol. Committee IEEE Neural Networks Council. SPIE. IEEE Seattle Sect. IEEE Ind. Electron. Soc. IEEE Inf. Theory Soc. IEEE Laser & Electro Opt. Soc. IEEE Oceanic Eng. Soc. IEEE Robotics & Autom. Soc. IEEE Signal Process. Soc. 18-22 Sept. 1993. YR 1993. RN CCCC: 0 7803 1363 1/93/$3.00. AB A dynamic force simulator (DFS) for force feedback in human-machine systems is proposed. The DFS simulates object dynamics contact model and friction characteristics of the human hand interacting with objects in a virtual reality environment. After derivation of kinematic and force relations between hand and object space, a method is proposed for calculation and feedback of appropriate forces to the force controlled actuators of the sensor glove which has been developed. 13 AN 4879940. AU Eberhardt-S-P. Bernstein-L-E. Coulter-D-C. Hunckler-L-A. IN Dept. of Eng., Swarthmore Coll., PA, USA. TI OMAR a haptic display for speech perception by deaf and deaf-blind individuals. SO Published by: IEEE. New York, NY, USA. 1993. CT IEEE Virtual Reality Annual International Symposium (Cat. No.93CH3336-5). Seattle, WA, USA. pp. 195-201. Virtual Reality Technol. Committee IEEE Neural Networks Council. SPIE. IEEE Seattle Sect. IEEE Ind. Electron. Soc. IEEE Inf. Theory Soc. IEEE Laser & Electro Opt. Soc. IEEE Oceanic Eng. Soc. IEEE Robotics & Autom. Soc. IEEE Signal Process. Soc. 18-22 Sept. 1993. YR 1993. RN CCCC: 0 7803 1363 1/93/$3.00. AB A system for haptic (i.e. kinesthetic and cutaneous) stimulation of the hand is described. While the immediate application involves display of speech information, a number of other man-machine interface applications may be feasible, including force-feedback devices for computer interaction and human pattern extraction from multiple datastreams. In an attempt to model more closely the information streams available via the Tadoma method, OMAR was developed to stimulate kinesthetic as well as tactile receptors, by moving and vibrating fingers in one or two dimensions using hard-disk head-positioning actuators. OMAR is being used in experiments involving basic haptic perception and supplementation of speechreading with haptic codings of speech correlates obtained via X-ray microbeam measurements. 14 AN 4872915. AU Stewart-A-M. IN Dept. of Appl. Math., Australian Nat. Univ., Canberra, ACT, Australia. TI The use of piezoelectric bimorphs to measure forces in colloidal systems. SO Measurement Science & Technology. vol.6, no.1. pp. 114-23. Jan. 1995. YR 1995. RN CCCC: 0957-0233/95/010114+10$19.50. AB An analysis is made of the effect of errors introduced by bimorph drift and decay upon measurements of colloidal forces made with piezoelectric bimorphs. For direct measurements the errors will be small provided that the time constant of the bimorph, given by the product of its capacitance and amplifier input impedance, is much larger than the total time of measurement. With the force-feedback technique the errors will be negligible provided that, in addition, the integrator time constant is much smaller than the bimorph time constant, which condition is easily satisfied. It is important to use an amplifier with a very high input impedance to buffer bimorphs used for this type of measurement. 15 AN 4870971. AU Hadjiloucas-S. Karatzas-L-S. Keating-D-A. Usher-M-J. IN Dept. of Cybern., Reading Univ., UK. TI Optical sensors for plant water relations. SO Proceedings of the SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering. vol.2360. pp. 71-4. 1994. CT Tenth International Conference on Optical Fibre Sensors Conference. Glasgow, UK. Univ. Strathclyde. Glasgow Dev. Agency. Scottish Enterprise. et al. 11-13 Oct. 1994. YR 1994. RN CCCC: 0 8194 1699 1/94/$6.00. AB The potential of optical fibres in monitoring water uptake from plants is considered. Applications include an optical potometer that monitors water uptake from individual roots, the detection of xylem cavitation using audio acoustic emissions with an interferometric force feedback microphone, an optical displacement transducer that detects changes in leaf thickness in relation to leaf water potential, and the use of fluorescence to monitor water uptake and translocation. 16 AN 4864558. AU Kanestrom-R-K. Egeland-O. IN Norwegian Inst. of Technol., Trondheim Univ., Norway. TI Impedance-adjusted active strut. SO Published by: IEEE. New York, NY, USA. 1994. CT Proceedings of the 1994 American Control Conference (Cat. No.94CH3390-2). Baltimore, MD, USA. pp. 1462-6 vol.2. American Autom. Control Council. US Nat. Member Organization of IFAC. AIAA. AIChE. AISE. ASME. IEEE. ISA. SCS. 29 June-1 July 1994. YR 1994. AB A set of active strut controllers are developed based on desired impedance descriptions. Closed loop stability is investigated using the theory of passivity, and experimental results on a truss structure with a piezoelectric active strut are provided. The impedance describing a dashpot in series with the unsoftened open loop spring is found to be most attractive. 17 AN 4864233. AU Cadoz-C. IN CNRS, IMAG, Grenoble, France. TI Force feedback in gestural man-machine dialogue-the concept of instrumental communication. SO Published by: EC2. Nanterre, France. 1994. CT Montpellier '94. 3rd International Conference. Interface to Real and Virtual Worlds. Proceedings. Montpellier, France. pp. 119-29. 7-11 Feb. 1994. YR 1994. AB The development of man-machine communication as an issue in computer science is recent. Within this issue, most of the human communication modalities have been exploited. However, the gestural channel, yet rich, has remained aside. We present the communicational properties of the gestural channel and show how it can play a role in man-machine communication. We introduce a new and essential concept: the instrumental communication inspired by the communicational relationship between the instrumentalist musician and his instrument. Generalized to tasks other than the control of sound phenomena, the instrumental communication with the computer completes the triangular diagram of man-machine-environment interaction modes. 18 AN 4864002. AU Pagilla-P. Tomizuka-M. IN Dept. of Mech. Eng., California Univ., Berkeley, CA, USA. TI Hybrid force/motion control of two arms carrying an object. SO Published by: IEEE. New York, NY, USA. 1994. CT Proceedings of the 1994 American Control Conference (Cat. No.94CH3390-2). Baltimore, MD, USA. pp. 195-9 vol.1. American Autom. Control Council. US Nat. Member Organization of IFAC. AIAA. AIChE. AISE. ASME. IEEE. ISA. SCS. 29 June-1 July 1994. YR 1994. AB In this work we develop a hybrid force/motion controller for coordination of two robot arms carrying an object. A closed chain dynamic model is developed which helps in designing the motion controller independent of the force controller. A stable adaptive motion controller and a parameter adaptation law is designed to estimate the unknown parameters. A feedforward plus PI type force controller is developed. Stability analysis is done for both motion and force controller. It is shown that the motion controller is robust to bounded disturbances and the force controller is robust to small delay in force feedback. The theoretical results have been validated by simulations. 19 AN 4861577. AU Takemura-H. Kitamura-Y. Chanezon-A. Kishino-F. IN ATR Commun. Syst. Res. Labs., Kyoto, Japan. TI An operator assistance method for an object placement task in a virtual environment. SO Journal of the Institute of Television Engineers of Japan. vol.48, no.10. pp. 1312-17. Oct. 1994. YR 1994. AB Because virtual reality techniques can be used to provide an intuitive user interface using human spatial perception, they are promising methods for implementing a sophisticated user interface. Limitations in computational power, however, make it difficult to present a perfect virtual environment, and a simple task in a real environment therefore often becomes a skilled operation in a virtual environment. The paper describes a method enabling an operator in a virtual environment to place an object on a surface without any force-feedback tool. When a grabbed object comes to close to another object, it is attached. Experimental results show that the method is efficient in decreasing the time required for object placement when precise placement necessary. 20 AN 4851958. AU Xiao-Jizhong. Zeng-Xiangqiu. Huang-Yalou. Lu-Guizhang. Edited by: Yuan-Baozong. IN Dept. of Autom. Control, East China Inst. of Technol., Nanjing, China. TI Adaptive force control for position-controlled robot manipulators. SO Published by: IEEE. New York, NY, USA. 1993. CT Proceedings TENCON '93. 1993 IEEE Region 10 Conference on 'Computer, Communication, Control and Power Engineering' (Cat. No.93CH3286-2). Beijing, China. pp. 94-8 vol.4. 19-21 Oct. 1993. YR 1993. AB This paper presents an adaptive force control method for robot manipulators based on Popov's hyperstability criterion. As many researchers have found, one of the difficulties of the control problem is that the stability of the robot force control system is sensitive to the changes of the stiffness of the environment on which the force is exerted. To solve the problem, model reference adaptive control theory is used to identify the environment stiffness, and to determine an adaptive force feedback gain corresponding to the contacted environment. The theoretic analysis and experimental results show that this method can realize a stable force control when the environment stiffness changes to a sufficiently large extent. 21 AN 4847138. AU Kunii-Y. Hashimoto-H. IN Dept. of Inf. Sci., Tokyo Univ., Japan. TI Object grasping in virtual environment using dynamic force simulator. SO Published by: IEEE. New York, NY, USA. 1994. CT Proceedings. 3rd IEEE International Workshop on Robot and Human Communication. RO-MAN '94 Nagoya (Cat. No.94TH0679-1). Nagoya, Japan. pp. 261-4. IEEE Ind. Electron. Soc. Soc. Instrum. & Control Eng. Robotics Soc. Japan. Japan Soc. Mech. Eng. IEICE. New Technol. Found. IEEE Robotics & Autom. Soc. IEEE Neural Networks Council. Inst. Electr. Eng. Japan. Inf. Process. Soc. Japan. Japan Psychology Assoc. Japanese Neural Network Soc. Japan Soc. Fuzzy Theory & Syst. 18-20 July 1994. YR 1994. RN CCCC: 0 7803 2002 6/94/$4.00. AB Realizes force feedback with the dynamic force simulator (DFS) that the authors proposed previously. DFS simulates object dynamics, contact model and friction characteristics of human hand interacting object in virtual reality. After derivation of kinematic and force relations between hand and object space the authors realize desired feedback forces to human operator. Interaction with DFS allows the calculation and feedback of appropriate forces to the force controlled actuators of the sensor glove the authors have developed. 22 AN 4847136. AU Hirota-K. Hirose-M. IN Fac. of Eng., Tokyo Univ., Japan. TI Surface display: a force feedback system simulating the surface of an object. SO Published by: IEEE. New York, NY, USA. 1994. CT Proceedings. 3rd IEEE International Workshop on Robot and Human Communication. RO-MAN '94 Nagoya (Cat. No.94TH0679-1). Nagoya, Japan. pp. 251-4. IEEE Ind. Electron. Soc. Soc. Instrum. & Control Eng. Robotics Soc. Japan. Japan Soc. Mech. Eng. IEICE. New Technol. Found. IEEE Robotics & Autom. Soc. IEEE Neural Networks Council. Inst. Electr. Eng. Japan. Inf. Process. Soc. Japan. Japan Psychology Assoc. Japanese Neural Network Soc. Japan Soc. Fuzzy Theory & Syst. 18-20 July 1994. YR 1994. RN CCCC: 0 7803 2002 6/94/$4.00. AB Force feedback is an interface based on the phenomenon of contact. In the implementation of a virtual force feedback environment, the object is defined in a computer and the user is in the real world. Therefore, an interface device is required to transmit touch sensation to the user's finger when he or she touches a virtual object in virtual space. In this paper, methodology to realize force feedback is categorized from this view point, and the idea of "surface display" is presented as a force feedback method in a virtual environment. 23 AN 4847116. AU Yokoi-H. Yamashita-J. Fukui-Y. Shimojo-M. IN Nat. Inst. of Biosci. & Human Technol., Tsukuba, Japan. TI Development of 3D-input device for virtual surface manipulation. SO Published by: IEEE. New York, NY, USA. 1994. CT Proceedings. 3rd IEEE International Workshop on Robot and Human Communication. RO-MAN '94 Nagoya (Cat. No.94TH0679-1). Nagoya, Japan. pp. 134-9. IEEE Ind. Electron. Soc. Soc. Instrum. & Control Eng. Robotics Soc. Japan. Japan Soc. Mech. Eng. IEICE. New Technol. Found. IEEE Robotics & Autom. Soc. IEEE Neural Networks Council. Inst. Electr. Eng. Japan. Inf. Process. Soc. Japan. Japan Psychology Assoc. Japanese Neural Network Soc. Japan Soc. Fuzzy Theory & Syst. 18-20 July 1994. YR 1994. RN CCCC: 0 7803 2002 6/94/$4.00. AB This paper reports the virtual surface manipulation system with force feedback. The developed system is a Cartesian manipulator with stiffness, toughness, and linearity. The proposed manipulator allows the operator spatially manipulates the virtual space with 6DOF, using a force sensor. The control system of the manipulator realizes smooth movement using velocity control. As an application of the system, the deforming operation of virtual surface is shown in an experiment. This paper describes the mechanism and the control method of the manipulator with adaptive damper using network architecture learning through backpropagation technique. 24 AN 4846348. AU Yoshida-K. Yabuta-T. IN Telecommun. Field Syst. R&D Center, NTT Corp., Ibaraki, Japan. TI Design and evaluation of a bilateral master-slave hand system. SO Published by: IEEE. New York, NY, USA. 1993. CT Proceedings 2nd IEEE International Workshop on Robot and Human Communication (Cat. No.93TH0577-7). Tokyo, Japan. pp. 402-7. IEEE Ind. Electron. Soc. Soc. Instrum. & Control Eng. Robotics Soc. Japan. Japan Soc. Mech. Eng. Inst. Electron. Information & Commun. Eng. New Technol. Foundation. 3-5 Nov. 1993. YR 1993. RN CCCC: 0 7803 1407 7/93/$3.00. AB A prototype bilateral master-slave hand system has been developed. Both the master and slave hands consist of three robot fingers using 3 degree-of-freedom (DOF) small manipulators each equipped with 3-axis force sensor to enable force feedback to the operator. In this paper, the master-slave hand system is described, and the system performance is evaluated based on the concept of the two-terminal pair network. Simulation results are reported which show that this master-slave hand system, using a bilateral control algorithm which was proposed previously, can realize almost ideal response in the low-frequency domain. 25 AN 4846313. AU Kuni-Y. Buss-M. Hashimoto-H. IN Fac. of Sci. & Eng., Cheo Univ., Japan. TI Force flow between human and object in virtual world. SO Published by: IEEE. New York, NY, USA. 1993. CT Proceedings 2nd IEEE International Workshop on Robot and Human Communication (Cat. No.93TH0577-7). Tokyo, Japan. pp. 216-19. IEEE Ind. Electron. Soc. Soc. Instrum. & Control Eng. Robotics Soc. Japan. Japan Soc. Mech. Eng. Inst. Electron. Information & Commun. Eng. New Technol. Foundation. 3-5 Nov. 1993. YR 1993. RN CCCC: 0 7803 1407 7/93/$3.00. AB In this paper we propose a dynamic force simulator (DFS) for force feedback in human-machine systems. The DFS simulates object dynamics, contact model and friction characteristics of the human hand interacting with objects in a virtual reality and aims at the human skill acquisition as a first step of the previously proposed intelligent assisting system (IAS). After derivation of the kinematic and force relations between hand and object space we propose a method of realizing desired feedback forces to the human operator. Interaction with the DFS allows the calculation and feedback of appropriate forces to the force controlled actuators of the sensor glove we have developed. 26 AN 4846302. AU Singh-S-K. Bostrom-M. Popa-D-O. Wiley-C-W. IN Thayer Sch. of Eng., Dartmouth Coll., Hanover, NH, USA. TI Design of an interactive lumbar puncture simulator with tactile feedback. SO Published by: IEEE. New York, NY, USA. 1993. CT Proceedings 2nd IEEE International Workshop on Robot and Human Communication (Cat. No.93TH0577-7). Tokyo, Japan. pp. 156-9. IEEE Ind. Electron. Soc. Soc. Instrum. & Control Eng. Robotics Soc. Japan. Japan Soc. Mech. Eng. Inst. Electron. Information & Commun. Eng. New Technol. Foundation. 3-5 Nov. 1993. YR 1993. RN CCCC: 0 7803 1407 7/93/$3.00. AB Lumbar puncture for purposes of administering spinal or epidural anesthesia is a complex clinical skill which requires the clinician to precisely correlate a detailed mental map of hidden three-dimensional anatomy with tactile feedback from the spinal needle as it is inserted. To be successful the trainee must create a mental map of the anatomy by integrating atlas illustrations with bony and/or surface landmarks. The placement of the needle must then be guided by the continuous correlation of this mental map and the tactile feedback, or "feel," of the needle as it is being inserted. The simulator consists of a combination of specialized hardware and custom software running on a high-resolution graphics workstation. The major piece of specialized hardware is the force-feedback needle simulator. This is a specialized joystick which resembles a long, thin pen or wand swivel-mounted to a vertical face of a box roughly 12 inches on a side. Position sensors track the insertion angle or trajectory of the device while a programmable motor or actuator will provide variable resistance to insertion depending upon which simulated anatomic structures the virtual needle is penetrating. If an incorrect trajectory is used and bone is contacted the resulting sudden sharp increase in resistance would be conveyed. 27 AN 4841990. AU Ichinohe-M. Ohara-K. Yamaguchi-K. Maeda-K. IN Production Eng. Promotion Center, Hitachi Ltd., Tokyo, Japan. TI Deburring robot system for cast iron. SO Robot. no.100. pp. 83-7. Sept. 1994. YR 1994. AB Deburring operation is dusty and noisy, so automation of deburring is strongly required. To solve this problem, robot system which has vision sensing, automatic robot program generation, and force feedback control function is developed. The sequence of this system is as follows, at first, real work size and burr size of each work are measured by vision sensing. Next, automatic robot program generator calculates the optimum deburring condition (contact force, feed speed, etc.) which suits to the measured burr size, and generates the robot program. Then, robot deburrs according to this program. When robot is deburring, contact force is controlled to decided value by force feedback control. This system accomplishes high quality finishing surface, by generating robot program which includes optimum deburring condition to each work. 28 AN 4829413. AU Wen-Yeuan-Chung. Waldron-K-J. IN Dept. of Mech. Eng., Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH, USA. TI Simulations of dexterous manipulation for multifingered systems. SO Published by: IEEE Comput. Soc. Press. Los Alamitos, CA, USA. 1994. CT Proceedings 1994 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.94CH3375-3). San Diego, CA, USA. pp. 2321-6 vol.3. IEEE Robotics Autom. Soc. 8-13 May 1994. YR 1994. RN CCCC: 1050-4729/94/$03.00. AB Combined grasping and manipulation by multifingered hands was studied. A method of force allocation by optimizing the friction angles at finger contacts was combined with the computed torque method to find the torques to be commanded at finger joints for multifingered systems. In this way, the chance of slip can be minimized when the object is grasped or manipulated. A rolling motion between the grasped object and the fingertips was studied in simulation. A history-based method was proposed to improve the smoothness of the input torque commands, and force feedback was used to compensate for the uncertainty of the system. Any finger which moved beyond the boundaries of its working volume was also moved to a new position for regrasping. The proposed method can be efficiently used to find the necessary actuator torques, and is applicable for real-time application. Three dimensional simulation results are given in this paper. 29 AN 4829410. AU Hill-J-W. Green-P-S. Jensen-J-F. Gorfu-Y. Shah-A-S. IN SRI Int., Menlo Park, CA, USA. TI Telepresence surgery demonstration system. SO Published by: IEEE Comput. Soc. Press. Los Alamitos, CA, USA. 1994. CT Proceedings 1994 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.94CH3375-3). San Diego, CA, USA. pp. 2302-7 vol.3. IEEE Robotics Autom. Soc. 8-13 May 1994. YR 1994. RN CCCC: 1050-4729/94/$03.00. AB Endoscopic surgical methods are replacing open surgery in many procedures, but dexterity and force feedback are not adequate with current tools. To enhance the ability of surgeons to operate endoscopically, we have developed a telepresence system with integrated 3D stereo viewing, a prototype force-reflecting manipulator, and aural feedback. Careful attention was paid to the human factors in the endoscopic surgery setting to make the system natural to use in the hope of eliminating the long training period normally required. The 4-axis (plus gripper) manipulator provides the same degrees of freedom as the laproscopic tools now being used for surgery. The bilateral control system provides for magnified motion and/or force reflection. This approach eliminates the motion reversal, or fulcrum effect, in operating through the abdominal wall. Preliminary dexterity experiments with different force feedback and viewing conditions verify intuitive use and fast learning. 30 AN 4824398. AU Sukhan-Lee. Hahk-Sung-Lee. IN Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA. TI Design of optimal time delayed teleoperator control system. SO Published by: IEEE Comput. Soc. Press. Los Alamitos, CA, USA. 1994. CT Proceedings 1994 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.94CH3375-3). San Diego, CA, USA. pp. 3252-8 vol.4. IEEE Robotics Autom. Soc. 8-13 May 1994. YR 1994. RN CCCC: 1050-4729/94/$03.00. AB A new method for designing an optimal time-delayed teleoperator control system based on Smith's principle is presented. First, an optimal delay-free teleoperator control system is designed with the human dynamics of visual and force trackings in the control loop and with the concept of telemonitoring force feedback. Then, an optimal time-delayed teleoperator control system is obtained by applying Smith's principle to the designed delay-free teleoperator control system and by modifying system parameters to achieve robustness to modeling errors. The proposed method provides an analytic design of a closed loop control structure for conventional teleprogramming facility and of a visual and kinesthetic man-machine interface required for time-delayed teleoperation. Simulation results are shown. 31 AN 4824387. AU Chen-M-Z. Zheng-Y-F. IN Dept. of Electr. Eng., Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH, USA. TI Deform flexible beams by two manipulators through neural network learning. SO Published by: IEEE Comput. Soc. Press. Los Alamitos, CA, USA. 1994. CT Proceedings 1994 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.94CH3375-3). San Diego, CA, USA. pp. 3180-5 vol.4. IEEE Robotics Autom. Soc. 8-13 May 1994. YR 1994. RN CCCC: 1050-4729/94/$03.00. AB In a previous paper (1993), the authors proposed an optimal trajectory for two manipulators to bend a flexible beam. The criterion was to minimize the interaction forces and moments between the beam and the end-effectors. It turned out that computation for specifying such a trajectory was complicated since an elliptic integral was involved in the computation. In this study, a circular arc is used as the motion trajectory of the two end-effectors. Since a circular arc is easy to specify, the computation time is greatly reduced. However, the interaction forces and moments become non-minimal. To overcome this problem, a neural network mechanism is proposed to adjust the trajectory in real-time such that the interaction forces and moments are reduced. The residual forces and moments are further minimized by a force feedback control mechanism. Simulation results are presented to verify the proposed method. 32 AN 4824235. AU Oh-Y-H. Chung-W-K. Jeong-K-W. Youm-Y. IN Dept. of Mech. Eng., Pohang Inst. of Sci. & Technol., South Korea. TI Implementation of passive hardware damper for force and impact control. SO Published by: IEEE Comput. Soc. Press. Los Alamitos, CA, USA. 1994. CT Proceedings 1994 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.94CH3375-3). San Diego, CA, USA. pp. 937-43 vol.2. IEEE Robotics Autom. Soc. 8-13 May 1994. YR 1994. RN CCCC: 1050-4729/94/$03.00. AB This paper deals with the modeling and implementation of a robot system for force and impact control using a newly developed passive hardware damper. The system with passive damper is modeled and based on the model, the stability of the whole system with respect to force feedback gain is analyzed. The limitations of the conventional velocity feedback to produce damping characteristic is discussed. Experiments are performed with/without passive damper to verify the effectiveness of the passive damping method and it is shown that the passive damper can help the system make stable contact during the contact period especially with highly stiff environment. 33 AN 4817270. AU Colgate-J-E. IN Dept. of Mech. Eng., Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL, USA. TI Coupled stability of multiport systems-theory and experiments. SO Transactions of the ASME. Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control. vol.116, no.3. pp. 419-28. Sept. 1994. YR 1994. RN CCCC: 0022-0434/94/$3.00. AB This paper presents both theoretical and experimental studies of the stability of dynamic interaction between a feedback controlled manipulator and a passive environment. Necessary and sufficient conditions for "coupled stability"-the stability of a linear, time-invariant n-port (e.g., a robot, linearized about an operating point) coupled to a passive, but otherwise arbitrary, environment-are presented. The problem of assessing coupled stability for a physical system (continuous time) with a discrete time controller is then addressed. It is demonstrated that such a system may exhibit the coupled stability property; however, analytical, or even inexpensive numerical conditions are difficult to obtain. Therefore, an approximate condition, based on easily computed multivariable Nyquist plots, is developed. This condition is used to analyze two controllers implemented on a two-link, direct drive robot. An impedance controller demonstrates that a feedback controlled manipulator may satisfy the coupled stability property. A LQG/LTR controller illustrates specific consequences of failure to meet the coupled stability criterion; it also illustrates how coupled instability may arise in the absence of force feedback. Two experimental procedures-measurement of endpoint admittance and interaction with springs and masses-are introduced and used to evaluate the above controllers. Theoretical and experimental results are compared. 34 AN 4815480. AU Luciani-A. Cadoz-C. Florens-J-L. IN LIFIA-INPG, Grenoble, France. TI The CRM device: a force feedback gestural transducer to real-time computer animation. SO Displays. vol.15, no.3. pp. 149-55. July 1994. YR 1994. RN CCCC: 0141-9382/94/03/0149-07$10.00. AB Movements in images or sounds are naturally produced by physical objects under the action of forces. These forces can be natural, such as those produced by gravity, wind or turbulence, artificial, as produced by manufactured motors, or human. Thus, to produce and control synthetic movements, computer simulation of physical objects can be monitored by specific interfaces, which provide the simulation of force generators, or convey real human gestural intervents. In this paper, we focus on the last approach. An analysis of human gestures driving a physical object is presented together with a force feedback gestural transducer we have developed, the CRM or modular retroactive keyboard. Finally, we show the computer context and paradigm in which we have developed this device, called the Instrumental Communication Interface (ICI). 35 AN 4815307. AU Hirata-Y. Mizuguchi-T. Sato-M. Kawarada-H. IN Precision & Intelligence Lab., Tokyo Inst. of Technol., Yokohama, Japan. TI Virtual work space for assembly. SO Systems and Computers in Japan. vol.25, no.7. pp. 92-100. 15 June 1994. YR 1994. AB To implement a human interface for efficiently modeling 3-D shapes on a computer, a virtual works space enabling direct manipulation of a shape model on a computer similar to manipulating a real 3-D object must be constructed. In this virtual work space, the tactile and force sensations arising while the object is manipulated must be fed back to the person. We previously proposed the space interface device SPIDAR capable of force feedback to the person's fingertips. However, only one finger could be used in SPIDAR, so operations where the object is held were not possible. We extend SPIDAR and propose the space interface device SPIDAR II to implement a virtual work space where operations involving holding and moving objects are possible. This device measures the position of the minimum of the two fingers needed to manipulate objects and can provide tactile feedback to the fingertips while an object is being held. A prototype device is built and a virtual work space is constructed where holding and moving objects is possible. Further, an experiment is conducted to investigate the effect of tactile feedback to work operability in this virtual work space, and its effectiveness is confirmed. 36 AN 4811628. AU Singh-S-K. Bostrom-M. Popa-D-O. Wiley-C-W. IN Thayer Sch. of Eng., Dartmouth Coll., Hanover, NH, USA. TI Design of an interactive lumbar puncture simulator with tactile feedback. SO Published by: IEEE Comput. Soc. Press. Los Alamitos, CA, USA. 1994. CT Proceedings 1994 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.94CH3375-3). San Diego, CA, USA. pp. 1734-9 vol.2. IEEE Robotics Autom. Soc. 8-13 May 1994. YR 1994. RN CCCC: 1050-4729/94/$03.00. AB Lumbar puncture for purposes of administering spinal or epidural anesthesia is a complex clinical skill which requires the clinician to precisely correlate a detailed mental map of hidden three-dimensional anatomy with tactile feedback from the spinal needle as it's being inserted. At Dartmouth, a collaborative work between the engineering and medical schools is aimed at developing a computer-based simulation utilizing high-resolution 3D graphics and a force-feedback device to simulate the "feel" of inserting the needle. This paper describes the mechanical design, hardware and software issues and some of the technical challenges being addressed in this project. 37 AN 4811627. AU Sato-T. Ichikawa-J. Mitsuishi-M. Hatamura-Y. IN Res. Center for Adv. Sci. & Technol., Tokyo Univ., Japan. TI A new micro-teleoperation system employing a hand-held force-feedback pencil. SO Published by: IEEE Comput. Soc. Press. Los Alamitos, CA, USA. 1994. CT Proceedings 1994 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.94CH3375-3). San Diego, CA, USA. pp. 1728-33 vol.2. IEEE Robotics Autom. Soc. 8-13 May 1994. YR 1994. RN CCCC: 1050-4729/94/$03.00. AB This paper describes a new micro-teleoperation system that is inherently suitable for micro-object handling since it mitigates several drawbacks associated with human interface devices. The system uses an upward-facing CRT display monitor mounted beneath a table. An operator performs micro-tasks in a sitting posture at the table while looking down at the monitor with a touch sensor screen situated between the operator's arms. To execute these tasks, microscope-observed images of the target objects are utilized in conjunction with the touch sensor screen and a specially designed, pencil-shaped master manipulator having a force-feedback function. The system incorporates the following characteristic features: (1) Intuitive teleoperation is possible because coincidence of the operating and monitoring point is provided. (2) The pencil-shaped master manipulator enables sensitive bilateral micro teleoperation because of its light weight and small inertia for movement, and (3) With the side of the right hand fixed in a pen-holder grip, the operator uses the master manipulator to generate commands with a wide dynamic range of force feedback, i.e., the operator can simultaneously feel force feedback during operation from both pressure/slip sensory receptors on the fingertips and sensory receptors which detects stretching of the finger muscles. The stated features are proved experimentally by the constructed micro teleoperation prototype system. 38 AN 4811596. AU Tarn-T-J. Ning-Xi. Ramadorai-A-K. Bejczy-A-K. IN Dept. of Syst. Sci. & Math., Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO, USA. TI A versatile experimental system for dual-arm planning and control. SO Published by: IEEE Comput. Soc. Press. Los Alamitos, CA, USA. 1994. CT Proceedings 1994 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.94CH3375-3). San Diego, CA, USA. pp. 1515-20 vol.2. IEEE Robotics Autom. Soc. 8-13 May 1994. YR 1994. RN CCCC: 1050-4729/94/$03.00. AB This paper describes a distributed computing and control architecture for experiments in dual-arm sensor-based planning and control. The system comprises of two PUMA 560 robots with state-of-the-art joint-level motion controllers. These controllers have accurate joint position and velocity measurement, an accurate joint calibration system, and six-axis wrist force/torque sensors with optical fiber communication with the controller. A high-power Silicon Graphics workstation, through a shared memory interface with the joint-level controllers, provides a task-level command and control capability. A variety of control schemes can be easily implemented on this system. A servo rate of 1000 Hz, without interpolation, has been achieved for task-level servo schemes with force feedback. The experimental results presented here demonstrate the performance capabilities of the system. 39 AN 4810626. AU Repperger-D-W. Phillips-C-A. Chelette-T-L. IN Armstrong Lab., US Air Force Inst. of Technol., Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, USA. TI The application of force feedback control schemes from studies on robotic systems to analyze a teleoperation system involving humans. SO Published by: IEEE. New York, NY, USA. 1993. CT Second IEEE Conference on Control Applications (Cat. No.93CH3243-3). Vancouver, BC, Canada. pp. 41-6 vol.1. IEEE Control Syst. Soc. 13-16 Sept. 1993. YR 1993. RN CCCC: CH3243-3/93/0000-0041$1.00. AB The application of theoretical concepts and other principles from studies of force feedback control systems in robotics can be used to better understand a teleoperative system. Within the context of a robotic system, the teleoperation problem can be viewed as a strictly force control system in which the end-effector must maintain a specified force pattern on the environment. Using this analogy, the environment may be modelled as being subjected to disturbances or an active compliance. Such technical issues as stability, performance, controllability, and other developments in the control systems literature now easily extend to the area of teleoperation involving humans. To illustrate this procedure, an analysis is conducted of a system from an ongoing experiment. This experiment involves handicapped people and normals participating in a study to analyze the effect on performance of different types of force feedback algorithms and target tracking tasks. 40 AN 4809441. AU Sato-M. Sawatari-M. Ishii-M. Hirata-Y. Kawarada-H. IN Precision & Intelligence Lab., Tokyo Inst. of Technol., Yokohama, Japan. TI The effect of force-feedback in the virtual work space. SO Transactions of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers D-II. vol.J77D-II, no.8. pp. 1656-62. Aug. 1994. YR 1994. AB To develop a human interface for three-dimensional modeling, a new interface device has been proposed for constructing a virtual work space where we can manipulate object models directly. The paper discusses the effect of force-feedback on a pick-and-place task in the virtual work space. We first analyze a manipulation in the pick-and-place task. After that, the virtual work space, including force sensation, is constructed for this task. Finally the effect of force-feedback, especially gravity-feedback, is clarified through the experiment on the pick-and-place task. As a result, when the force-feedback is given, this task can be accomplished more accurately, promptly and comfortably. 41 AN 4806033. AU Dumay-A-C-M. Jense-G-J. IN TNO Phys. & Electron. Lab., The Hague, Netherlands. TI On the feasibility of virtual environments in medicine. SO Published by: AGARD. Neuilly sur Seine, France. 1994. CT Virtual Interfaces: Research and Applications (AGARD-CP-541). Lisbon, Portugal. pp. 3/1-8. 18-22 Oct. 1993. YR 1994. AB Virtual environments allow a human to interact with a (computer) system in such a way that a high level of presence in a computer-synthesised world is experienced. In principle, all human senses are involved with the interaction. Many applications may benefit from this type of human-machine interfacing, however, little have emerged so far for medicine. We elaborate on some realistic potential applications of virtual environment technology in the field of medicine. These applications can be found in education/training, therapy, surgery, rehabilitation, diagnosis, telemedicine and biomechanics. The value to be added to these applications by VE technology lies in the fact that patient data or patient models may be moderated to the physician in a more intuitive and natural manner. Despite these potentials, the short-term feasibility of these applications can be put into question for various reasons. Firstly, the current generation of display devices have a resolution that may show to be too low to achieve a sufficiently high degree of realism for medical applications. Secondly, there are no commercially-available actuators for tactile and force feedback which the physician desperately need for the simulation of the contact with the (virtual) patient. Thirdly, the enormous computing power required for these applications needs (yet) a considerable investment. With these limitations in mind, we believe that we are at the cradle of a whole new generation of VE applications in medicine. 42 AN 4802338. AU Pi-Cheng-Tung. Yen-Pu-Hsu. IN Dept. of Mech. Eng., Nat. Central Univ., Chung-Li, Taiwan. TI Application of fuzzy control to an inserting operation. SO Fuzzy Sets and Systems. vol.66, no.3. pp. 267-81. 26 Sept. 1994. YR 1994. RN CCCC: 0165-0114/94/$07.00. AB Because of the difficulty of dynamic equations for the inserting operation and the advantage of fuzzy control for easy execution without knowledge of the mathematical models, we used the force feedback signal measured by a force sensor and a fuzzy controller to regulate the position of a peg. The control strategy includes two control loops. In one, a PID position controller moves the peg's vague position nearer to the hole, and in the other, the fuzzy controller regulates the final position according to the contact force. Between the two control loops, we use an index to activate a switch. To verify the proposed control strategy, we performed experiments with a Cartesian manipulator system driven by AC servo motors. The experimental results reveal that we can insert a peg into a hole with a fitting clearance of less than 0.01 mm. 43 AN 4801977. AU Bronowicki-A. Innis-J. Casteel-S. Dvorsky-G. Alvarez-O. Rohleen-E. IN TRW Space & Technol. Div., One Space Park, Redondo Beach, CA, USA. TI Active vibration suppression using modular elements. SO Proceedings of the SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering. vol.2190. pp. 717-28. 1994. CT Smart Structures and Materials 1994. Smart Structures and Intelligent Systems. Orlando, FL, USA. SPIE. 14-16 Feb. 1994. YR 1994. RN CCCC: 0 8194 1485 9/94/$6.00. AB A system for active suppression of structural vibrations has been developed. The system consists of piezoelectric ceramic actuator and sensor elements which can be either bonded on to or embedded in structural components. For active damping, these are placed at locations of high modal strain energy. For active isolation, locations of high disturbance transmissibility are chosen. Small analog and digital control electronics units have been developed which include all sensing, processing and actuator drive electronics. The analog unit is appropriate for active damping using strategies such as positive position and integral force feedback. Damping levels in structures has been increased from 0.1% to 100% using a single analog controller. The digital system is capable of executing any algorithm having two inputs and two outputs. Active damping using feedback and active force cancellation using feedforward have been demonstrated. Block diagrams, specifications, photographs and test results describing the elements of the modular vibration suppression system are presented. 44 AN 4794782. AU Rupp-A. Velastin-S-A. IN Dept. of Electron. & Electr. Eng., King's Coll., London, UK. TI A gripper and sensor system for controlled slip and force. SO Published by: IEEE. New York, NY, USA. 1994. CT ISIE '94. 1994 IEEE International Symposium on Industrial Electronics. Symposium Proceedings (Cat. No.94TH0670-0). Santiago, Chile. pp. 329-34. IEEE Ind. Electron. Soc. Catholic Univ. Chile. IEEE Chile Sect. Chilean Assoc. Autom. Control. 25-27 May 1994. YR 1994. AB The paper describes the development of a robot gripper, sensors and associated electronics suitable for controlling slippage and contact force. A typical application is the handling of glass test tubes in an automated medical analysis laboratory. Through force control, the gripper first holds an object, then repeatedly releases and regrasps it for controlled slip. The basic mechanical principle consists of a rolling cylinder in direct contact with the (cylindrical) object, forming a cylinder-cylinder pivot with 5 degrees of freedom. A stable grasp is achieved by a finger/counter-finger arrangement with 3 contact points. In the left finger, contact force is reflected in the pivots of the roll and measured by piezoresistive force sensors. In the right finger, motion is measured by optical encoders. Analog electronics deal with gripper motor control and signal processing for the force sensors. Digital circuits handle the motion measurement from the optical encoders, A/D conversion of force sensor outputs and force feedback for motor control and communications with an external computer. The proposed design has been built and tested using an industrial SCARA robot. 45 AN 4794393. AU Bencsik-A-L. Rudas-I-J. IN Banki Donat Polytech., Budapest, Hungary. TI Mechatronic development for force feedback teleoperation system. SO Published by: IEEE. New York, NY, USA. 1993. CT Proceedings of the IECON '93. International Conference on Industrial Electronics, Control, and Instrumentation (Cat. No.93CH3234-2). Maui, HI, USA. pp. 57-61 vol.1. IEEE Ind. Electron. Soc. Soc. Ind. Control Eng. Japan. 15-19 Nov. 1993. YR 1993. RN CCCC: 0 7803 0891 3/93/$03.00. AB In this paper the authors present the mechatronic development of a hydraulic force reflecting master-slave system which is applicable for industrial robot control. The methods of force reflection is analysed. The new universal master-slave is described from technical and from economic points of view. A master-slave is also demonstrated which is suitable for a four degrees of freedom force feedbacking of robot manipulators when there are built-in integral force perceptions fitted either to joints or to the end effector of the robot. 46 AN 4794391. AU Buss-M. Hashimoto-H. IN Inst. of Ind. Sci., Tokyo Univ., Japan. TI Intelligent cooperative manipulation system. SO Published by: IEEE. New York, NY, USA. 1993. CT Proceedings of the IECON '93. International Conference on Industrial Electronics, Control, and Instrumentation (Cat. No.93CH3234-2). Maui, HI, USA. pp. 45-50 vol.1. IEEE Ind. Electron. Soc. Soc. Ind. Control Eng. Japan. 15-19 Nov. 1993. YR 1993. RN CCCC: 0 7803 0891 3/93/$03.00. AB Proposes an intelligent cooperative manipulation system-ICMS for human-machine cooperative manipulation. Using a force feedback sensor glove and virtual environment as human interfaces, essential data describing the performed manipulation task can be acquired and accumulated in a manipulation skill data base. A model for representation of hand manipulation skill is proposed. Using this model an example shows how human skill can be acquired and transferred to be executed by a robotic hand. 47 AN 4791766. AU Brimhall-O-D. Hasser-C-J. IN Tech. Res. Associates, Inc., Salt Lake City, UT, USA. TI Magnetostrictive linear devices for force reflection in dexterous telemanipulation. SO Proceedings of the SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering. vol.2190. pp. 508-19. 1994. CT Smart Structures and Materials 1994. Smart Structures and Intelligent Systems. Orlando, FL, USA. SPIE. 14-16 Feb. 1994. YR 1994. RN CCCC: 0 8194 1485 9/94/$6.00. AB Anthropomorphic exoskeletal systems with full force feedback are desired for intuitive telemanipulation. Current dexterous force-reflecting hand masters are fundamentally limited by available force actuators. Multiple degree of freedom dexterous exoskeletal systems are especially sensitive to mass, volume, force, velocity and geometric constraints. The authors discuss desired operational parameters and targets for ideal dexterous force feedback actuation. New resistive and active actuators, using Terfenol-D magnetostrictive driven elements, are proposed. Simple resistive and active magnetostrictive concepts, prototypes, and devices are demonstrated and evaluated. 48 AN 4783879. AU Karatzas-L-S. Keating-D-A. Usher-M-J. IN Dept. of Cybern., Reading Univ., UK. TI A practical optical force-feedback microphone. SO Transactions of the Institute of Measurement and Control. vol.16, no.2. pp. 75-85. 1994. YR 1994. AB A novel technique of measuring diaphragm displacement in microphones using a laser-diode Fabry-Perot system is presented. The microphone diaphragm is held within an electrostatic force-feedback loop so as to improve the performance. A second loop operates around the laser, for noise minimisation purposes. Following a brief introduction to the subject of optical detection in microphones, the modified Fabry-Perot interferometer is described and the complete system with the two feedback loops presented. The characteristics of the laser driver and laser diode are examined. Theoretical responses are shown, for different cases, and noise calculations yield the dynamic ranges without feedback. The effect of feedback is then examined, both around the laser (electronic) and around the microphone SNR capsule (electrostatic), and the dynamic ranges are recalculated to show the advantages of feedback. Intended directions for further research are also discussed. 49 AN 4778751. AU Kanestrom-R-K. Egeland-O. IN Dept. of Eng. Cybern., Trondheim Univ., Norway. TI Design of a nonlinear active vibration damping system for a flexible truss structure. SO Published by: IEEE. New York, NY, USA. 1993. CT Proceedings of the 32nd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (Cat. No.93CH3307-6). San Antonio, TX, USA. pp. 1404-5 vol.2. IEEE Control Syst. Soc. 15-17 Dec. 1993. YR 1993. RN CCCC: 0191-2216/93/$3.00. AB A multivariable nonlinear controller is proposed for vibration suppression of flexible space structures. The controller gain which precedes the integrator in the integral force feedback scheme is exchanged with a gain consisting of a constant term added to a term proportional to the force measurement signal. This approach provides rapid cancellation of large deflections maintaining low noise sensitivity. L/sub 2/ is proved and experimental results show improved performance compared to the linear integral force feedback with constant gain. 50 AN 4776203. AU Langrana-N-A. Burdea-G. Lange-K. Gomez-D. Deshpande-S. IN Rutgers State Univ. of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ, USA. TI Dynamic force feedback in a virtual knee palpation. SO Artificial Intelligence in Medicine. vol.6, no.4. pp. 321-33. Aug. 1994. YR 1994. RN CCCC: 0933-3657/94/$07.00. AB A virtual model of a knee joint with muscles, ligaments and bones has been developed. This model includes realistic 3D surface deformation and tissue stiffnesses. Tissue and bone deformation (palpation) produces real-time force feedback to the user hand wearing a DataGlove and Rutgers Master. Collision detection algorithms determine when and where the virtual hand palpates the surface model. This user interaction with the muscles and bones of a human knee model may be used as a training and planning tool for knee surgery. 51 AN 4776200. AU Satava-R-M. IN COL, US Army Med. Corps, Special Assistant in Biomedical Technol., Arlington, VA, USA. TI Emerging medical applications of virtual reality: a surgeon's perspective. SO Artificial Intelligence in Medicine. vol.6, no.4. pp. 281-8. Aug. 1994. YR 1994. RN CCCC: 0933-3657/94/$07.00. AB Medical applications for virtual reality (VR) technologies are just beginning to emerge. These include VR surgical simulators, telepresence surgery, complex medical database visualization, and rehabilitation. These applications are mediated through the computer interface and embody VR as an integral part of a paradigm shift in the field of medicine. The Green Telepresence Surgery System consists of two components, the surgical workstation and the remote worksite. At the remote site there is a 3D camera system and responsive manipulators with sensory input. At the workstation there is a 3D monitor and dexterous handles with force feedback. The VR surgical simulator is a stylized recreation of the human abdomen with several essential organs. Using a head-mounted display and Dataglove, a person can learn anatomy from a new perspective by 'flying' inside and around the organs, or can practice surgical procedures with a scalpel and clamps. Database visualization creates 3D images of complex medical data for new perspectives in analysis. VR applications in rehabilitation medicine permit impaired individuals to perform tasks not otherwise available to them, allow accurate assessment and therapy for their disabilities, and help architects understand their critical needs in public or personal space. And to support these advanced technologies, the operating room and hospital of the future will be first designed and tested in virtual reality, bringing together the full power of the digital physician. 52 AN 4755369. AU Bielefeldt-H. Horsch-I. Krausch-G. Lux-Steiner-M. Mlynek-J. Marti-O. IN Dept. of Phys., Konstanz Univ., Germany. TI Reflection-scanning near-field optical microscopy and spectroscopy of opaque samples. SO Applied Physics A (Solids and Surfaces). vol.A59, no.2. pp. 103-8. Aug. 1994. YR 1994. AB Opaque samples are imaged by scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) in reflection mode: a quartz glass fiber tip is used both to illuminate the sample and to collect light locally reflected from or emitted by the surface. The collected light is coupled out by a 2*2 fiber coupler and fed into a grating spectrometer for spectral analysis at each sampled point. The tip-sample distance is controlled by a shear-force feedback system. The simultaneous measurement of topography and optical signals allows an assessment of imaging artifacts, notably topography-induced intensity changes. It is demonstrated that an optical reflectance contrast not induced by topographic interference can be found on suitable samples. Local spectral analysis is shown in images of a photoluminescent layer. 53 AN 4753555. AU Tarn-T-J. Bejczy-A-K. Ning-Xi. Ramadorai-A-K. IN Dept. of Syst. Sci. & Math., Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO, USA. TI Distributed control architecture for a sensor-driven dual arm system. SO Mechatronics. vol.4, no.5. pp. 481-502. Aug. 1994. YR 1994. RN CCCC: 0957-4158/94/$7.00+0.00. AB A distributed computing and control architecture for sensor-based control of a dual arm system is described. The system comprises of two PUMA 560 robots with state-of-the-art joint level motion controllers for accurate joint position and velocity measurement, an accurate joint calibration system, and six-axis wrist force/torque sensors with optical fiber links with the controller. A Silicon Graphics workstation, through a shared memory interface with the joint-level controllers, provides a task-level command and control capability. A computer vision system, with two CCD cameras, is also interfaced to the workstation. A variety of control schemes may be implemented on this system. A servo rate of 1000 Hz, without interpolation, has been achieved for task-level servo schemes with force feedback. The experimental results presented demonstrate the performance capabilities of the system. 54 AN 4740447. AU Lee-S. Lee-H-S. IN Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA. TI Teleoperator control system design with human in control loop and telemonitoring force feedback. SO Published by: IEEE. New York, NY, USA. 1992. CT Proceedings of the 31st IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (Cat. No.92CH3229-2). Tucson, AZ, USA. pp. 2674-9 vol.3. IEEE. 16-18 Dec. 1992. YR 1992. AB A design methodology for an advanced teleoperator control system using the paradigm of telemonitoring is presented. Human dynamics reacting to visual and kinesthetic force feedback is modeled and incorporated into the control loop for designing and evaluating teleoperator control systems. Monitoring force feedback is proposed for achieving a new kinesthetic coupling between the human operator and manipulators under significant communication time delay and shared control. A comparative study shows that (1) teleoperator control systems designed without human dynamics in the control loop become valid when a human is added to the control loop, and that (2) teleoperator control systems aimed at achieving telepresence or a passive system suffer from either poor performance or instability under communication time delay. Based on the comparative study, an optimal structure of the teleoperator system for resolving considerable communication time delay is proposed. 55 AN 4737894. AU Shi-Weixiang. Cao-Binggang. Wang-Sunan. IN Xian Jiaotong Univ., China. TI The electro-hydraulics servo techniques in China. SO Journal of the Japan Hydraulics and Pneumatics Society. vol.25, no.3. pp. 415-24. May 1994. YR 1994. AB As early as 1950s, the electrohydraulic servo techniques had been applied in China. In the 1970s, the electrohydraulic servo techniques were introduced into China from Moog Corp., Vickers Corp. in the USA and Rexroth Corp. in Germany. Then two types of servo valves, QDY and DY, were produced in China. The former uses a torque motor with flapper-nozzle and force feedback and has relatively high frequency response. The latter is a moving-coil two-stage spool type of servo valve, which has large flow and low frequency response. Since 1980s, the quality of the servo valves was improved gradually with the stimulation of electrohydraulic servo techniques in the USA, Germany and Japan. Meanwhile, the electrohydraulic proportional technique was also developed. In this aspect, a flow sensing position/force feedback type of proportional valve had been put into production. Now, the electrohydraulic servo technique has been applied widely in China. Representative introductions are given in this paper. 56 AN 4734428. AU Qiao-H. Dalay-B-S. Parkin-R-M. IN Dept. of Mech. Eng., De Montfort Univ., Leicester, UK. TI Precise robotic chamferless peg-hole insertion operation without force feedback and remote centre compliance (RCC). SO Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part C (Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science). vol.208, no.C2. pp. 89-104. 1994. YR 1994. AB Robots can be widely used in the industrial assembly operation if the task can be performed with high precision, high speed and with low cost. Peg-hole insertion is a fundamental operation whose problems have been the focus of much work. In the passive accommodation solution, remote centre compliance (RCC) is used to perform chamfered peg-hole insertion. The principle exploited involves using RCC as a mechanical map which transfers the translational and angular errors, between the peg and the hole, into corrective motion. The potential advantages of minimized cycle times are offset by the limited precision. This contrasts with techniques exploiting active accommodation which use a force sensor to arrive at the deviation, between the peg and hole axes, to achieve chamferless insertion. A strategy is developed here that uses neither of these additional accessories but instead exploits features of both techniques with defined initial conditions. The immediate advantages of reduced hardware complexity are supplemented by evidence of trials. These were based on a 31.99 mm diameter peg and a hole with a diameter clearance of 0.02 mm. The results showed that the algorithm operated reliably with small clearances and with minimum cycle times. This confirms its potentially wide application in industry where its simplicity can be fully exploited. 57 AN 4731048. AU Hirose-M. Hirota-K. Edited by: Salvendy-G. Smith-M-J. IN Fac. of Eng., Tokyo Univ., Japan. TI Surface display and synthetic force sensation. SO Published by: Elsevier. Amsterdam, Netherlands. 1993. CT Human-Computer Interaction. Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI International '93). Orlando, FL, USA. pp. 645-50 vol.2. AT&T. Fuji Electr. Co. JGC Corp. NEC Corp. Purdue Univ. Univ. Central Florida. Univ. Wisconsin-Madison. 8-13 Aug. 1993. YR 1993. AB In the real world, the sensation of force is felt when a real object comes into contact with a part of our body. This fact motivated us to the idea of creating artificial touch sensation by using some type of force feedback device. A prototype display device for simulating force sensation based on this idea was developed and called surface display. In previous research, the touch sensation was often discussed and many prototypes for force feedback were developed. However, most of these devices were designed from a conventional force feedback perspective, which has been developed mainly in the robotics field. In this paper, another approach for designing a force feedback device, a 'mock-surface' method, is presented. Several prototype devices were implemented based on the approach and assessments were made from various point of view. This paper describes the conceptual design and implementation process as well as some experimental results. 58 AN 4729865. AU Haugland-M-K. Hoffer-J-A. Sinkjaer-T. IN Dept. of Med. Inf. & Image Anal., Aalborg Univ., Denmark. TI Skin contact force information in sensory nerve signals recorded by implanted cuff electrodes. SO IEEE Transactions on Rehabilitation Engineering. vol.2, no.1. pp. 18-28. March 1994. YR 1994. RN CCCC: 1063-6528/94/$04.00. AB When functional neuromuscular stimulation (FNS) is used to restore the use of paralyzed limbs after a spinal cord injury or stroke, it may be possible to control the stimulation using feedback information relayed by natural sensors in the skin. In this study the authors tested the hypothesis that the force applied on glabrous skin can be extracted from the electroneurographic (ENG) signal recorded from the sensory nerve. They used the central footpad of the cat hindlimb as a model of the human fingertip and recorded sensory activity with a cuff electrode chronically implanted around the tibial nerve. Their results showed that the tibial ENG signal, suitably filtered, rectified, and smoothed carries detailed static and dynamic information related to the force applied on the footpad. The authors derived a mathematical model of the force-ENG relation that provided accurate estimates of the ENG signal for a wide range of force profiles, amplitudes, and frequencies. Once fitted to data obtained in one recording session, the model could be made to fit data obtained in other sessions from the same cat, as well as from other cats, by simply adjusting its overall gain and offset. However, the model was noninvertible; i.e., the force could not be similarly predicted from the ENG signal, unless additional assumptions or restrictions were introduced. The authors discuss the reasons for these findings and their implications on the potential use of nerve signals as a source of continuous force feedback information suitable for closed-loop control of FNS. 59 AN 4725029. AU Vukobratovic-M. Stokic-D. TI A survey of joint force feedback methods for controlling manipulation robots. SO Tekhnicheskaya Kibernetika. pp. 175-90. TR Journal of Computer and Systems Sciences International. vol.32, no.2. pp. 89-101. March-April 1994. RN CCCC: 1064-2307/94/0002-0089. AB The problems of achieving both coarse and precision manipulator control by means of joint force feedback are examined. One of the purposes of this paper is to provide a survey of the establishment and development over the last two decades of the idea of employing joint force feedback. A variety of control designs containing joint torque feedback loops are examined. The main advantages of this approach are discussed. Joint torque feedback is promising for compensating dynamic effects in robot control without requiring real-time calculation of robot dynamics; the control system is robust to changes in parameters, etc. Various problems associated with the design and fabrication of torque sensors are examined. Particular attention is devoted to the proposed approach in hybrid position-force control systems. 60 AN 4706244. AU Taylor-R-M-II. Robinett-W. Chi-V-L. Brooks-F-P-Jr. Wright-W-V. Williams-R-S. Snyder-E-J. IN Dept. of Comput. Sci., North Carolina Univ., Chapel Hill, NC, USA. TI The Nanomanipulator: a virtual-reality interface for a scanning tunneling microscope. SO Published by: ACM. New York, NY, USA. 1993. CT Computer Graphics Proceedings. Anaheim, CA, USA. pp. 127-34. ACM. 1-6 Aug. 1993. YR 1993. RN CCCC: 0 89791 601 8/93/008/0127$01.50. AB We present an atomic-scale teleoperation system that uses a head-mounted display and force-feedback manipulator arm for a user interface and a Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) as a sensor and effector. The system approximates presence at the atomic scale, placing the scientist on the surface, in control, while the experiment is happening. A scientist using the Nanomanipulator can view incoming STM data, feel the surface, and modify the surface (using voltage pulses) in real time. The Nanomanipulator has been used to study the effects of bias pulse duration on the creation of gold mounds. We intend to use the system to make controlled modifications to silicon surfaces. 61 AN 4705625. AU Yao-B. Tomizuka-M. IN Dept. of Mech. Eng., California Univ., Berkeley, CA, USA. TI Adaptive control of robot manipulators in constrained motion. SO Published by: American Autom. Control Council. Evanston, IL, USA. 1993. CT Proceedings of the 1993 American Control Conference (IEEE Cat. No.93CH3225-0). San Francisco, CA, USA. pp. 1128-32 vol.2. IEEE. American Autom. Control Council. IFAC. et al. 2-4 June 1993. YR 1993. AB The adaptive motion and force control of robot manipulators in constrained motion in the presence of parametric uncertainties both in the robot and surface coefficient of dry friction is considered. A new constrained dynamic model is obtained to account for the effect of contact surface friction. An adaptive law is suggested with unknown parameters updated by both motion and force tracking errors to guarantee asymptotic motion and force tracking without any persistent excitation condition to be satisfied. The suggested controller includes an expected PI (proportional plus integral) type force feedback control structure with a low proportional force feedback gain. The acausality problem is analyzed by a quasi-static method to show that allowable proportional force feedback gain is severely limited in implementation. With a slight modification to the updating law, the controller also possesses robustness to bounded measurement noise and disturbances. 62 AN 4703210. AU Mei-Hua-Liu. IN Inst. fur Regelungstech., Tech. Hochschule Darmstadt, Germany. TI Development of a force-controlled robotic deburring system with the help of fuzzy logic. SO Automatisierungstechnik. vol.42, no.5. pp. 218-24. May 1994. YR 1994. AB This paper presents a robotic deburring strategy based on force feedback control and fuzzy logic. By controlling the deburring force in the normal and tangential directions of the desired trajectory, positional inaccuracies and unknown burr sizes are detected online and real-time motion connections are conducted in such a way that the positional inaccuracies are compensated and unknown burr sizes are completely removed. With the use of fuzzy logic control controller parameters are adjusted automatically according to working conditions, disturbances involved in data measurement are suppressed, and smooth behaviour in the compensation of the positional inaccuracies is achieved. Implementation of and experimental results about the proposed deburring strategy are described and its main features are discussed in relation with a conventional PID controller. 63 AN 4696786. AU Sinclair-M. Peifer-J. IN Georgia Inst. of Technol., Atlanta, GA, USA. TI Socially correct virtual reality: surgical simulation. SO Virtual Reality World. vol.2, no.4. pp. 64-6. July-Aug. 1994. YR 1994. RN CCCC: 1060-9547/94/$15.00+0. AB A proof-of-concept eye surgery simulation has been developed at the Georgia Institute of Technology as a collaboration with the Medical College of Georgia. This simulator provides both visual and force feedback, while a student surgeon operates on a computer-generated model of the eye in a virtual environment. Historically, physicians have learned new surgical procedures through passive observation and active practice on cadavers or animals, and then performing the procedure on patients under the supervision of an experienced surgeon. In the future, computer simulation will allow physicians to practice surgical procedures in a virtual environment in which there is no risk to patients. Mistakes can be immediately erased, and the procedure can be reviewed from new, insightful perspectives or situations that are impossible in the real world. 64 AN 4690867. AU Paetsch-W. von-Wichert-G. IN Dept. of Control Syst. Theor. & Robotics, Tech. Univ. of Darmstadt, Germany. TI Solving insertion tasks with a multifingered gripper by fumbling. SO Published by: IEEE Comput. Soc. Press. Los Alamitos, CA, USA. 1993. CT Proceedings IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.93CH3247-4). Atlanta, GA, USA. pp. 173-9 vol.3. IEEE. 2-6 May 1993. YR 1993. RN CCCC: 0 8186 3450 2/93/$3.00. AB Part mating with a multifingered gripper mainly comprises two areas, i.e., the control of the gripper or hand and the strategies to solve the task. The problem is made more difficult by the uncertainties from mechanical, sensor or control errors within the gripper system or the parts to be assembled. The authors examine how to find and to realize a hand behavior, which solves the task under the assumption that the system is heavily influenced by the uncertainties mentioned. The problem is solved by a force feedback loop, containing a comparatively simple mathematic description of strategies applied in parallel. The proof of the efficiency of the approach is given. Results of various experiments are presented. 65 AN 4687189. AU Yao-B. Tomizuka-M. IN Dept. of Mech. Eng., California Univ., Berkeley, CA, USA. TI Adaptive coordinated control of multiple manipulators handling a constrained object. SO Published by: IEEE Comput. Soc. Press. Los Alamitos, CA, USA. 1993. CT Proceedings IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.93CH3247-4). Atlanta, GA, USA. pp. 624-9 vol.1. IEEE. 2-6 May 1993. YR 1993. RN CCCC: 0 8186 3450 2/93/$3.00. AB Adaptive motion, internal force, and external contact force control of multiple manipulators handling a constrained object is achieved. Parametric uncertainties may exist in the manipulator and in the object as well as in the friction coefficients of contact surfaces. A set of transformed dynamic equations are obtained in the joint space, in which internal force and external contact force have the same form and, thus, can be dealt with in the same way. Based on some particular properties of a reformulated motion and force equation, and adaptive algorithm is developed with unknown parameters updated by both motion and force tracking error. The controller guarantees asymptotic motion and force tracking without any persistent excitation condition and has a proportional-integral (PI) force feedback control structure with a low P-gain, so that acausality is avoided. Robustness to bounded velocity and force measurement noise as well as to disturbances of the controller is discussed. 66 AN 4687151. AU Parker-N-R. Salcudean-S-E. Lawrence-P-D. IN Dept. of Electr. Eng., British Columbia Univ., Vancouver, BC, Canada. TI Application of force feedback to heavy duty hydraulic machines. SO Published by: IEEE Comput. Soc. Press. Los Alamitos, CA, USA. 1993. CT Proceedings IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.93CH3247-4). Atlanta, GA, USA. pp. 375-81 vol.1. IEEE. 2-6 May 1993. YR 1993. RN CCCC: 0 8186 3450 2/93/$3.00. AB The design and implementation of a force-reflecting controller for conventional heavy duty hydraulic machines are described. The unsuitability of direct force feedback with rate control has been shown analytically and confirmed on a simulator of a typical hydraulic machine. A stiffness control scheme to circumvent this problem was developed and used successfully in controlling the endpoint force on a CAT 215 log loader to better than 10% of a typical working load. A magnetically levitated wrist was used as a force-reflecting master, and the endpoint forces were obtained from hydraulic cylinder pressures. 67 AN 4687128. AU Wapenhans-H. Seyfferth-W. Pfeiffer-F. IN Lehrstuhl B fuer Mechanik. Tech. Univ. Munchen, Germany. TI Robotic force control for flexible assembly. SO Published by: IEEE Comput. Soc. Press. Los Alamitos, CA, USA. 1993. CT Proceedings IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.93CH3247-4). Atlanta, GA, USA. pp. 225-31 vol.1. IEEE. 2-6 May 1993. YR 1993. RN CCCC: 0 8186 3450 2/93/$3.00. AB The authors present a complete design procedure for determining an optimal force control for assembly tasks while assuring stability. Based on a constrained motion model of the robot, including elasticity of joints and force sensor, a custom design scheme may be applied for individual types of mating tasks. The approach guarantees separation of position and force controlled cartesian directions of the robot endpoint by complementary input/output decoupling. Position feedback parameters are optimized to obtain a maximum stability reserve and force feedback parameters are optimized to minimize settling time. Controller behavior is then predicted by the simulation of the potentially unsteady system dynamics including time-varying constraints on the workpiece. The design process is illustrated for a peg-in-hole insertion and verified by experimental results from a laboratory robot. 68 AN 4687109. AU Wilfinger-L-S. Wen-J. Murphy-S. IN Dept. of Electr.-Comput.-Syst. Eng., Rensselaer Polytech. Inst., Troy, NY, USA. TI Integral force control with robustness enhancement. SO Published by: IEEE Comput. Soc. Press. Los Alamitos, CA, USA. 1993. CT Proceedings IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.93CH3247-4). Atlanta, GA, USA. pp. 100-5 vol.1. IEEE. 2-6 May 1993. YR 1993. RN CCCC: 0 8186 3450 2/93/$3.00. AB Three robustness enhancement modifications to the standard integral force feedback control are presented. These modifications help to reduce the initial impact force of the robot gripper on the environment and maintain contact with the environment in the presence of disturbances. By combining all of the modifications into the force integral feedback algorithm, the best features of each modification are obtained. The result is a force control algorithm which maintains contact with a rigid surface and remains stable in the presence of large force disturbances. 69 AN 4683594. AU Gao-Weibing. Cheng-Mian. Xiao-Di. IN Seventh Res. Div., Beijing Univ. of Aeronaut. & Astronaut., China. TI Force control for tracking a set of tasks in presence of constraints. SO Control Theory & Applications. vol.11, no.1. pp. 40-50. Feb. 1994. YR 1994. AB A new approach to tracking tasks by robots in the presence of environmental constraints is proposed. Since the dynamic equations of a rigid object are written in a component form with respect to axes fixed with the object, a new model of constraints is given in a very simple form as linear functions of velocity components. As a result, the system of differential equations of motion of the object is automatically decomposed into two subsystems: equations of motion and equations of reactive force. Two force feedback schemes are developed. A hierarchical architecture is established for the overall control strategy such that the robot can trade a set of different objects for different desired motions. 70 AN 4683572. AU Jiang-Fan. Feng-Zuren. Shi-Ren. IN Dept. of Inf. & Control Eng., Xi'an Jiaotong Univ., China. TI An adaptive impedance control algorithm of robot manipulators. SO Control Theory & Applications. vol.10, no.6. pp. 638-43. Dec. 1993. YR 1993. AB In accordance with the robot motion control with unknown manipulator parameters and uncertain payloads, an adaptive impedance control algorithm of Pithy type is presented in this paper. The algorithm can ensure manipulators to track the desired impedance model and can strictly guarantee the asymptotic stability of the tracking error as well as the global stability of the manipulator and its environment. In addition, the control approach without direct force feedback is also discussed. 71 AN 4681558. AU Faucett-T. Westfall-S. IN OECO Corp, Milwaukie, OR, USA. TI A highly flexible automated odd-form component assembly cell. SO Published by: IEEE. New York, NY, USA. 1993. CT APEC '93. Eighth Annual Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition. Conference Proceedings 1993 (Cat. No.93CH3271-4). San Diego, CA, USA. pp. 234-9. IEEE. Power Sources Manuf. Assoc. 7-11 March 1993. YR 1993. RN CCCC: 0 7803 0983 9/93/$3.00. AB The authors describe the development of an automated odd-form assembly cell utilizing two high-speed, random accessed, elevator-type component tray feeders with 16 trays each, a SCARA-type pick-and-place robot, a force feedback servo-driven gripper, an active vision correction system, and a variable-width conveyor transport. This system represents a truly flexible, low cost, automated odd-form assembly cell. It features a minimum of 32 different odd-form components online, and provides fast component or product changeover time without the need or expense of multiple external feeders or feeder racks. The component feeder system used on this cell offers a simple and low-cost tooling solution for odd-form components compared to any previous odd-form assembly cell. 72 AN 4681423. AU Middleton-T. Edited by: Murphy-H-J. IN SRI Int., Menlo Park, CA, USA. TI Matching virtual reality solutions to special needs. SO Published by: California State Univ., Northridge. Northridge, CA, USA. 1992. CT Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Conference 'Technology and Persons with Disabilities'. Los Angeles, CA, USA. pp. 359-65. Office Disabled Student Services. 18-21 March 1992. YR 1992. AB In the past five or six years (1986-92), developers have carried virtual reality (VR) technology to the state where potential users can visualize applications for their own special needs. Applications for VR will include: communication, education and training; design, recreation and entertainment; and teleoperation. The purpose of the article is to identify promising matches between VR technology and the special needs of people with disabilities within the framework of these applications. VR technology is still in a very early stage of development, but we can expect to see many of the following developments during the coming years: reduction of system delays; inclusion of tactile and force feedback capabilities; use of speech and other input devices; improvement in visual display resolution; and mobility. 73 AN 4666320. AU Apostolos-M-K. Zak-H. Das-H. Schenker-P. IN Univ. of Southern California, Sch. of Theatre, Los Angeles, CA, USA. TI Multisensory feedback in advanced teleoperations: benefits of auditory cues (in simulated satellite repair task). SO Proceedings of the SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering. vol.1828. pp. 98-105. 1992. CT Sensor Fusion V. Boston, MA, USA. SPIE. 15-17 Nov. 1992. YR 1992. RN CCCC: 0 8194 1029 2/92/$4.00. AB The authors an experiment that demonstrated the value of auditory cues in teleoperation as part of a simulated Solar Maximum Satellite Repair (SMSR). The experiment was designed to examine a specific teleoperation task of unbolting an electrical connector screw based on the apparent significance of auditory signals. In addition to the visual cues available from a pair of stereoscopic cameras and contact force feedback cues from the operator's manual hand controller, the operator is given an amplified microphonic task presentation. In general, sounds within the robot workspace are not heard in the operator control room. Six subjects participated in the experiment which examined the performance benefits of vision, force, and sound feedback. The data infers that audio cues can make a significant difference in task completion time. 74 AN 4666222. AU Noll-A-M. IN Annenburg Sch. for Commun., Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. TI The beginnings of computer art in the United States: a memoir. SO Leonardo. vol.27, no.1. pp. 39-44. 1994. YR 1994. RN CCCC: 0024-094X/94/$3.00. AB Three decades ago, such terms as computer art, virtual reality and computer animation had not yet entered our vocabulary. This was a time for the experimentation and innovation that produced today's industry of computer art and animation, along with new media for creative experiences with computers. The author has used digital computers in a variety of the visual arts, including still images, stereoscopic images, computer holography, three-dimensional animation, four-dimensional animation, interactive stereoscopic displays and input devices and, ultimately, three-dimensional force-feedback-the latter becoming a major component of today's virtual reality. This research and experimentation in computer art was performed during the 1960s. In this article the author reminisces and describes his early work. 75 AN 4666146. AU Akamatsu-M. Sato-S. IN Nat. Inst. of Biosci. & Human-Technol., Agency of Ind. Sci. & Technol., Tsukuba, Japan. TI A multi-modal mouse with tactile and force feedback. SO International Journal of Human-Computer Studies. vol.40, no.3. pp. 443-53. March 1994. YR 1994. RN CCCC: 1071-5819/94/030443+12$08.00/0. AB We have developed a mouse with tactile and force feedback. Tactile information is provided to the operator by a small pin which projects slightly through the mouse button when pulsed. Force information is provided by an electromagnet inside the mouse in conjunction with an iron mouse pad. Tactile and force feedback are controlled by software linked to the visual information of targets on the visual display. In an empirical evaluation using a target selection task, the addition of tactile and force feedback shortened the response time and widened the effective area of targets. Design issues for interactive systems are discussed. 76 AN 4663789. AU Youcef-Toumi-K. Gutz-D-A. IN Dept. of Mech. Eng., MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA. TI Impact and force control: modeling and experiments. SO Transactions of the ASME. Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control. vol.116, no.1. pp. 89-98. March 1994. YR 1994. RN CCCC: 0022-0434/94/$3.00. AB Robot manipulators and drive systems can experience instability or poor control performance after impacting with an environment. This paper presents an analytical model for impact which is experimentally validated step-by-step. Extensive simulations and experiments are conducted to explain impact phenomena for the case of a force feedback control of a drive system. The results are based on an energy method and presented concisely in dimensionless form. To this end, a small number of dimensionless groups are used to characterize the impact behavior through simulations and tests. The study shows that an integral force compensation with a velocity feedback improves force tracking and reject impacts. It is also revealed that impact response can be tuned by selecting a favorable dimensionless ratio of force to approach velocity. 77 AN 4656421. AU Sukhan-Lee. Hahk-Sung-Lee. IN Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA. TI Modeling, design, and evaluation of advanced teleoperator control systems with short time delay. SO IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation. vol.9, no.5. pp. 607-23. Oct. 1993. YR 1993. RN CCCC: 1042-296X/93/$03.00. AB A real-time teleoperator control system designed to achieve desired performance and robustness under shared compliance control and short time delays of up to a few seconds is evaluated. In the design, telemonitoring force feedback is introduced as a new form of kinesthetic coupling; dynamic characteristics of the master and slave arms are actively modified based on generalized impedance control according to local design criteria; the human dynamics involved in generating a control command based on visual and force stimuli are incorporated into the controller design; and to balance the robustness/performance trade-off, system performance is optimized subject to a known maximum time delay. Simulation results suggest that the system is superior to conventional systems in terms of performance and robustness under short time delays and human control errors. Experimental evidence is presented to supports the advantages of the proposed telemonitoring force feedback. An experimental method for further validating the human dynamic model is described. 78 AN 4643297. AU Wilfinger-L-S. Wen-J-T. Murphy-S-H. IN Dept. of Electr., Comput., & Syst. Eng., Rensselaer Polytech. Inst., Troy, NY, USA. TI Integral force control with robustness enhancement. SO IEEE Control Systems Magazine. vol.14, no.1. pp. 31-40. Feb. 1994. YR 1994. RN CCCC: 0272-1708/94/$04.00. AB For robotic tasks involving contact between the robot end effector and the environment, force feedback is frequently used to maintain the required force of interaction. Among the many force control strategies proposed in the literature, integral force feedback has been found to be the most desirable algorithm due to its robustness with respect to the measurement time delay and its removal of steady state force error. However, there has not been any serious investigation of the controller performance under large force disturbances. We have experimentally observed that large force disturbances can cause bouncing instability of a nominally stable force control system. Motivated by this observation, we augment the standard integral force controller with three robustness enhancements: integral error scaling, force set-point scheduling, and integral windup saturation. Extensive experimentation on surfaces with different stiffness has shown the dramatic improvement of the modified controller. 79 AN 4641993. AU Bencsik-A. Rudas-I-L. Edited by: Zurawski-R. Dillon-T-S. IN Banki Donat Polytech., Budapest, Hungary. TI Adaptive control of force constrained robot manipulators using master-slave systems. SO Published by: CRL Publishing. Aldershot, UK. 1992. CT IEEE International Workshop on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation - Technology for the Intelligent Factory - Proceedings (IEEE Cat. No.92TH0500-9). Melbourne, Vic., Australia. pp. 619-23. IEEE. Swinburne Inst. Technol. La Trobe Univ. 11-14 Aug. 1992. YR 1992. AB The authors describe the development of master control arms at their institution. In the late 1980s a hydraulic force-feedback master arm was developed and connected to an ATR HD 500 (Daido) type industrial robot. Based on this result a universal master arm which is kinematically independent of the slave manipulator is under development. The results of these projects are summarized. 80 AN 4637938. AU Diner-D-B. TI Monocular TV vs stereo TV for solar maximum satellite repair subtasks. SO Proceedings of the SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering. vol.2057. pp. 325-36. 1993. CT Telemanipulator Technology and Space Telerobotics. Boston, MA, USA. SPIE. 7-9 Sept. 1993. YR 1993. RN CC