Publications

Abstract not provided.

Perhaps the most basic barrier to the widespread deployment of remote manipulators is that they are very difficult to use. Remote manual operations are fatiguing and tedious, while fully autonomous systems are seldom able to function in changing and unstructured environments. An alternative approach to these extremes is to exploit computer control while leaving the operator in the loop to take advantage of the operator's perceptual and decision-making capabilities. This report describes research that is enabling gradual introduction of computer control and decision making into operator-supervised robotic manipulation systems, and its integration on a commercially available, manually controlled mobile manipulator.

Umbra is a new Sandia-developed modeling and simulation framework. The Umbra framework allows users to quickly build models and simulations for intelligent system development, analysis, experimentation, and control and supports tradeoff analyses of complex robotic systems, device, and component concepts. Umbra links together heterogeneous collections of modeling tools. The models in Umbra include 3D geometry and physics models of robots, devices and their environments. Model components can be built with varying levels of fidelity and readily switched to allow models built with low fidelity for conceptual analysis to be gradually converted to high fidelity models for later phase detailed analysis. Within control environments, the models can be readily replaced with actual control elements. This paper describes Umbra at a functional level and describes issues that Sandia uses Umbra to address.