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The Virtual Tool Approach to Dextrous Telemanipulation
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@InProceedings{Fuentes:97,
  author = 	 {Olac Fuentes and Randal C. Nelson},
  title = 	 {The Virtual Tool Approach to Dextrous Telemanipulation},
  booktitle = {Proc. International Conference },
  year = 	 {1996},
  address = 	 {Minneapolis, MN},
  month = 	 {April  }
  abstract =     {We propose a behavioral construct called a ``vir­
tual tool'' that allows many of the advantages of high­
degree­of­freedom robotic systems to be realized with­
out excessive computational costs or modeling require­
ments. The basic idea of a virtual tool is drawn from
the observation that the most efficient way of perform­
ing a task is generally to use a device that is specially
designed for it; this suggests that a way to use redun­
dant degrees of freedom in a system is to use them
to customize it so that it becomes, in essence, a spe­
cial purpose tool for the task at hand. We call the
resulting instantiation a virtual tool. Formally, this
tailoring takes the form of implementing constraints
on the degrees of freedom of the system through lower­
level control processes. Remaining degrees of freedom
appear as control parameters of the virtual tool, and
can be used by higher­level processes, or by a human
teleoperator, to control the system.
We present experimental results showing the appli­
cation of the virtual tool approach to telemanipulation
using a 22 degree­of­freedom hand­arm system. Our
chosen task is a fairly complex assembly task requir­
ing the robot to pick up a small object, transport it,
and insert it into a hole with matching shape. Instead
of attempting to map the configuration of the teleop­
erator's hand­arm system to the robot using a data­
glove or similar device, we provide basic parameterized
grasping and manipulation primitives (or virtual tools)
that can be invoked by the teleoperator as he progresses
through the stages of the complex task.}
}