Semi-autonomous shared control of large-scale manipulator arms

Semi-autonomous operation with shared control between the human operator and control computer has been developed and examined for a large-scale manipulator for gripping and lifting heavy objects in unstructured dynamical environments. The technique has been implemented on an electro-hydraulic actuated crane arm with redundant kinematic structure. Several modes of automation and interaction were evaluated. Experiments show satisfactory smoothness in the transitions between autonomous, shared and manual control, doubled performance in log loading for inexperienced operators while experienced operators reported reduced workload.