The goal of this research is to develop a robotic system that will extend a human's ability to perform small-scale (sub-millimeter) manipulation tasks requiring human judgement, sensory integration and hand-eye coordination. A novel approach, called "steady hand" micro- manipulation is for tools to be held simultaneously both by the operator's hand and a specially designed robot arm. The robot cs controller senses forces exerted by the operator on the tool and by the tool on the environment, and uses this information in various control modes to provide smooth, tremor-free precise positional control and force scaling. The result will be a manipulation system with the precision and sensitivity of a machine, but with the manipulative transparency and immediacy of hand-held tools for tasks characterized by compliant or semi-rigid contacts with the environment. Some specific goals of the research include: 1) a novel robotic system specifically designed for cooperative steady hand micro-manipulation research; 2) Control theory for stable cooperative force and position control; 3) Information-enhanced cooperative steady- hand manipulation: 4) Experimental validation in realistic micro-manipulation task environments.
