9 Enhancing the Usability of the MANUS Manipulator by Using Visual Servoing

Abstract

Controlling MANUS, a wheelchair-mounted manipulator, can put a high cognitive load on the end user. Visual servoing techniques can help to reduce this load. This paper describes a visual servoing system that can assist the end-user in carrying out all day living tasks. No a-priori information about the object to manipulate is used (allowing operation in unstructured environments). The system is to be able to operate in direct collaboration with the end-user (collaborative control).