Software for DIY at home lab for telemanipulation control

Finished: 2023-07-18

BSc assignment

The world is moving more towards robot avatars, and an important part of that is telemanipulation. Robot avatars give people the opportunity to be at places that they usually would not be able to; next to that, it will shorten the distance between people all over the world.

To spread awareness about this new technology and to teach people interactively, Avatars.Report decided to start an interactive teaching environment including pen casts, assignments and a DIY kit.

Telemanipulation is an important part of robot avatars and, as such, one of the topics for which Avatars.Report provides information. For this bachelor project, we will create the DIY kit focussing on telemanipulation with kinesthetics. Telemanipulation with kinesthetics makes it feel like the input is directly connected to the output allowing the user to feel the sensation of forces in their muscles and bones

The kit will allow the user to build their own lab setup with which they can experiment and interact with telemanipulation with kinesthetic feedback. 

The DIY kit should be easy and intuitive to use, therefore multiple subgoals are defined:

  • The kit should enable the user to explore the theory that is explained in the pen casts.
  • The parts in the kit should be available and easily accessible.
  • The kit should be easy to assemble.
  • The software should be easy to adapt.
  • The software and documentation should teach the user how to implement the software in their own projects.
  • The software should be such that a low level of prior knowledge and skills is required.