Bilateral master-slave manipulator control device

A control device provided between a master device having a given articulation configuration and a given degree of freedom and a slave manipulator having a given articulation configuration and a given degree of freedom, for causing faithful operation of the slave manipulator according to operation command signals from the master device, comprising:

• a first position coordinate converter for converting signals of position information concerning articulations of the master device into signals of position information concerning a hand of the master device in a common operating space coordinate system and outputting the converted signals;
• a selector for selecting specific signals from the output signals of said first position coordinate converter and supplying the specific signals to corresponding articulations of the slave manipulator;
• a second position coordinate converter for converting the signals supplied by said selector into signals of position information concerning the articulations of the slave manipulator and outputting the converted signals;
• a first controller for giving drive force signals to actuators for the slave manipulator according to the differences between the output signals from said second position coordinate converter and position information signals from the slave manipulator;
• a first force coordinate converter for converting signals of force information concerning articulations detected by the slave manipulator into signals of force information concerning a hand of the slave manipulator in the common operating space coordinate system;
• a second force coordinate converter for converting the signals of force information concerning the hand of the slave manipulator in the common operating space coordinate system into signals of force information concerning the articulations of the master device and outputting the converted signals;
• and
• a second controller for giving drive force signals to actuators for the master device according to the differences between the output signals from said second force coordinate converter and force information signals detected by the master device.