Development of an intelligent robotic haptic interface to perform vocational tasks by individuals with disabilities

This paper describes a human modeling approach using robotics principles to develop a form of assistive technology that augments the performance of individuals with disabilities, specifically those with pathological tremor. The conducted research is expected to enhance the physical capabilities through the use of an intelligent robotic haptic interface in order to perform a wide range of job-related tasks and thus increase employment opportunities for these individuals by using this technology for training purposes. Specific tasks such as approaching an object and moving it from one location to another via Teleoperation were chosen as examples to demonstrate the implementation of the haptic interface. The testbed used tor these tasks consists of a six-degree-of-freedom force-reflecting haptic interface device, PHANToM with the GHOST SDK Software [13]. Different forms of assistance were provided to the operator in the execution of the tasks. It was demonstrated that these forms of assistance reduced the execution times and increased the performance of the chosen tasks.