Kenneth Salisbury -- Talk Abstract
Touching and Being Touched: Robot Hands, Arms and Haptic Interfaces
Kenneth Salisbury, Ph.D.
Principal Research Scientist
MIT Dept. of Mechanical Engineering and
Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
Abstract
During the past 15 years at MIT's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory our
group's research has focused on the development of devices that physically
interact with the real world. More recently our work has addressed the
development of haptic interfaces which allow users to feel the mechanical
properties of remote and virtual environments. Common to these dual
application areas, robotics and haptics, is the development of devices that
can sense and exert forces on the environment and humans. It has been found
that performance in terms of force dynamic range and bandwidth has been of
more value than mechanism complexity.
This talk will focus on the lessons we have learned about how to build and
utilize high performance force controllable devices to extend human
capabilities. The design philosophy that has evolved will be illustrated
with examples including the MIT WAM arm, the PHANToM haptic interface and
the MIT Black Falcon surgical robot. I will also speculate a bit on the
coming convergence of virtual and remote manipulation for training,
performance enhancement and enabling of physical immersion in remote and
virtual physical task environments.
Diego Ruspini