Evaluation of the Maneuverability of the Power-Assisted Mobile Robot Using Manipulability Ellipsoid

Abstract

Getting a satisfactory maneuverability in a power-assisted mobile robot is the most important subject. The diffi-culty in this subject is in a difference of the characteristics of operators. This research focused on the operation of the power-assisted mobile robot with velocity-based impedance control. From the analysis of experimental video, we found that there was a difference in the posture between operators. In order to analyze the difference quantitatively, manipulability ellipsoid which is used for the analysis of manipulators is used. From results, an operator which takes larger size of the manipulability ellipsoid to the moving direction can operate the robot smoothly. Additionally, results show that maneuverability can be improved by adjusting the handle position to become the manipulability ellipsoid larger. However, the structure of a handle cannot be designed freely in almost robots. In this case, maneu-verability can be improved by adjusting parameters of the controller depending on the size of manipulability ellipsoid, if it can be measured directly or indirectly.