LAUSR

Tendon-driven mechanisms are adopted in remote handling manipulators to reduce the weight of the distal parts of the manipulator while maintaining the handling performance. This study considered several approaches to the design of a gripper system for telemanipulators. According to the requirements of the specified tendon-driven mechanism, the connecting position of the spring system on the gripper mechanism was obtained, and kinematic influence coefficient analysis was performed to select the proper spring stiffness. The results showed that the tension force generated by the selected spring module is relatively constant in the gripper’s motion range; the spring module is advantageous for the semi-automatic gripper motion of servo-based tendon-driven manipulators performed in non-accessible experimental facilities which handles many types of sensitive measuring devices with hazardous materials. The motion performance of the proposed gripper module was comparatively verified with a commercialized gripper system which has similar specifications. Additionally, an eye-in-hand camera was also designed to obtain an active-view through a gripper for efficient teleoperation. This gripper system uses a modular-type camera head that can be changed remotely and a proper camera angle to achieve an intuitive view of the remote site. The designed camera system was tested in a large-scale confined cell facility remotely and verified the practical usability for remote handling manipulators.