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Unlike many traditional stiff position-controlled robots, new collaborative robots interact with humans and operate in an environment that is often unpredictable and unknown. For safe and effective executions of manipulation tasks within such an environment, the robot requires to modulate its compliance. Therefore, the human operator must have a system that enables an intuitive demonstration of compliance skills to the robot. Ideally, this should also be possible through teleoperation in order to have the ability to demonstrate skills at a distance, such as in remote home care applications or any other scenario where the skilled operators are not physically present all the time. Existing state-of-the-art methods for remote demonstration of impedance skills only enable limited modulation of the stiffness matrix, or they are too complex and cumbersome for practical applications. This research tries to overcome these limitations and proposes a teleoperated stiffness commanding method that enables a complete modulation of the stiffness matrix in 3 degrees of freedom. The method uses the same haptic device hardware as used for controlling the robot manipulator motion, hence it does not require extra specialised equipment for stiffness commands. By wiggling the endpoint of the haptic device, the stiffness is commanded to the robot and also fed back to the operator through haptic and visual feedback. To evaluate the performance and acceptance of the system, we performed a user study where the participants had to demonstrate various interaction behaviour to the remote robot. The results show how varying system parameters (i.e., degrees of freedom, orientation, and size of the stiffness commands) influence the performance of the system and user acceptance.

Telemanipulation techniques allow for human-in-the-loop assembly and maintenance tasks in otherwise inaccessible environments. Although it comes with limitations in achieved performance – required strict operator selection and extensive training are widely encountered – there is very little quantitative insight in the exact problems operators encounter during task execution. This paper provides a novel hierarchical task analysis approach to identify the most time-consuming subtask elements and to quantify the potential room for performance improvement during telemanipulated maintenance tasks. The approach is illustrated with a human factors case study in which 5 subjects performed six generic maintenance tasks, using a six degree of freedom master device connected to a simulated task environment. Overall it can be concluded that the proposed three phased task analysis is a useful tool to guide improvements since it is able to relate high-level problems (e.g. large variability) to behaviour on lower task-levels. For the case study, the largest potential for improvement was found for specific subtasks characterized by complex contact transitions and precise control of tool orientation, and in the reduction of variation of the task execution.

Certain tele-manipulation tasks require manipulation by two asymmetric slaves, for example, a crane for hoisting and a dexterous robotic arm for fine manipulation. It is unclear how to best design human-in-the-loop control over two asymmetric slaves. The goal of this paper is to quantitatively compare the standard approach of two co-operating operators that each control a single subtask, to a single operator performing bi-manual control over the two subtasks, and a uni-manual control approach. In a human factors experiment, participants performed a heavy load maneuvering and mounting task using a vertical crane and a robotic arm. We hypothesize that bi-manual control yields worse task performance and control activity compared to co-operation, because of conflicting spatial and temporal constraints. Literature suggests that uni-manual operators should perform better than co-operation, as co-operators critically depend on each other's actions. However, other literature provides evidence that individual operators have limited capabilities in controlling asymmetric axes of two dynamic systems. The results show that the two co-operators perform the maneuvering and mounting task faster than either bi-or uni-manual operators. Compared to co-operators, uni-manual operators required more control activity for the vertical crane and less for the robotic arm. In conclusion, this study suggests that when controlling two asymmetric slaves, a co-operating pair of operators performs better than a single operator.

Tele-manipulation of heavy loads typically requires the simultaneous use of two asymmetric slaves: a crane for vertical weight support; and a robot for accurate lateral positioning. The industrial standard prescribes a pair of operators for such tasks (one operator to control each slave), although in principle one operator might control both slaves with a single, hybrid interface. Accurate and safe co-operative handling of the expensive and fragile heavy components is difficult, presumably due to problems in the coordination of the subtasks and the lack of mutual awareness between the two operators. This study proposes a novel haptic assistance system to improve subtask coordination and task performance. Its novelty consists of haptically linking operators/interfaces through the joint task environment. The system's efficacy is evaluated with fifteen pairs of co-operators and fifteen individual uni-manual operators who manoeuvred a heavy load through a bounded path in Virtual Reality. Haptic assistance improves task completion time for both groups. It also reduces control activity and self-reported workload without affecting a number of critical errors made by the operators. Moreover, without haptic assistance, uni-manual operators perform worse than co-operators, but this difference between the interfaces disappears with haptic assistance.

Four EC H&CD (Electron Cyclotron Heating and Current Drive) launchers will be installed into the upper ports #12, #13, #15 and #16 in ITER. Beside plasma heating their main purpose is to counteract plasma instabilities by injecting up to 20 MW of microwave power at a frequency of 170 GHz at dedicated positions into the plasma. The microwave power is generated in 24 Gyrotrons outside the Tokamak and transmitted into the dedicated ports by 8 waveguide lines per launcher. After passing a CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) diamond window and another section of circular waveguides, the microwaves are quasi-optically guided into the plasma by an adjusted set of mirrors. These mirrors and also the foremost segments of the waveguides are mounted into the Upper Port Plug, which is a massive steel structure capable to dissipate up to 800 kW heat and to withstand heavy mechanical loads induced mainly from plasma disruptions. This paper presents the most recent status of the design of the EC H&CD Upper Port Plug (UPP), featuring the construction of the supporting structure and the BSM (Blanket Shield Module) with its plasma facing First Wall, the PHTS (Primary Heat Transfer System) water cooling layout, the shielding components engineering, the microwave system integration and comprehensive manufacturing strategies. Also correlated computational analyses to prove the final design of the launcheŕs structural system are given.

Maintenance operations on ITER tokamak components will be largely performed by remote handling. In previous work it was shown that representative maintenance tasks could be performed significantly faster with direct visual feedback than with camera feedback. In post-test interviews, operators indicated that they regarded the lack of 3D perception as the primary factor hindering their performance. This paper discusses various techniques to improve depth perception in teleoperation, including stereo vision, head tracking, virtual camera views and depth gauges. The most promising techniques were tested. Performance metrics included time-to-complete, path analysis and operator work-load. In a first experiment, artificial depth gauges views were tested in a 1:1 scale hardware testbed with mechanical master-slave manipulators handled by experienced operators. Robust real-time image processing was achieved with marker-based objects. The simple depth gauge and graphical overlay did not significantly improve task performance. Operators commented on their view of the task being “obstructed” by the graphical overlay, and the depth gauge was judged not very informative. In a second experiment, real time tracking was combined with VR display including stereo and head tracking. While stereo was found to improve the task performance significantly over the 1 camera (mono) condition, head tracking unexpectedly did not.

The upper port #18 (UP18) in ITER hosts three diagnostic systems: the neutron activation system, the Vacuum Ultra-Violet spectrometer system, and the vertical neutron camera. These diagnostics are integrated into three infrastructures in the port: the upper port plug, interspace support structure and port cell support structure. The port integration in UP18 is at the preliminary design stage and the current design of the infrastructure as well as the diagnostic integration is described here. The engineering issues related to neutron shielding and maintenance are addressed and the design approach is suggested.

Haptic shared control is a promising approach to improve tele-manipulated task execution, by making safe and effective control actions tangible through guidance forces. In current research, these guidance forces are most often generated based on pre-generated, errorless models of the remote environment. Hence such guidance forces are exempt from the inaccuracies that can be expected in practical implementations. The goal of this research is to quantify the extent to which task execution is degraded by inaccuracies in the model on which haptic guidance forces are based. In a human-in-the-loop experiment, subjects (n = 14) performed a realistic tele-manipulated assembly task in a virtual environment. Operators were provided with various levels of haptic guidance, namely no haptic guidance (conventional tele-manipulation), haptic guidance without inaccuracies, and haptic guidance with translational inaccuracies (one large inaccuracy, in the order of magnitude of the task, and a second smaller inaccuracy). The quality of natural haptic feedback (i.e., haptic transparency) was varied between high and low to identify the operator's ability to detect and cope with inaccuracies in haptic guidance. The results indicate that haptic guidance is beneficial for task execution when no inaccuracies are present in the guidance. When inaccuracies are present, this may degrade task execution, depending on the magnitude and the direction of the inaccuracy. The effect of inaccuracies on overall task performance is dominated by effects found for the Constrained Translational Movement, due to its potential for jamming. No evidence was found that a higher quality of haptic transparency helps operators to detect and cope with inaccuracies in the haptic guidance.

Telemanipulation allows human to perform operations in a remote environment, but performance and required time of tasks is negatively influenced when (haptic) feedback is limited. Improvement of transparency (reflected forces) is an important focus in literature, but despite significant progress, it is still imperfect, with many unresolved issues. An alternative approach to improve teleoperated tasks is presented in this study: Offering haptic shared control in which the operator is assisted by guiding forces applied at the master device. It is hypothesized that continuous intuitive interaction between operator and support system will improve required time and accuracy with less control effort, even for imperfect transparency. An experimental study was performed in a hard-contact task environment. The subjects were aided by the designed shared control to perform a simple bolt-spanner task using a planar three degree of freedom (DOF) teleoperator. Haptic shared control was compared to normal operation for three levels of transparency. The experimental results showed that haptic shared control improves task performance, control effort and operator cognitive workload for the overall bolt-spanner task, for all three transparency levels. Analyses per subtask showed that free air movement (FAM) benefits most from shared control in terms of time performance, and also shows improved accuracy.

This paper deals with Remote Handling activities foreseen on the Blanket Shield Module, the plasma facing component of the ITER Electron Cyclotron Heating and Current Drive Upper Launcher. The maintenance configuration considered here is the Vertical Remote Handling, meaning gravity acting along the launcher radial axis. The plant, where the maintenance under consideration is occurring, is the Hot Cell Facility Work Cell. The study here reported has been carried out within the presently ongoing EFDA Goal Oriented Training program on Remote Handling (GOT-RH), which aims to support ITER activities. This document and its contents have to be considered as part of a more vast RAMI analysis to be developed within the GOT-RH, which aims to maximize the Electron Cyclotron Heating and Current Drive system availability. The Baseline CAD model of the Electron Cyclotron Heating and Current Drive Upper Launcher is currently in its preliminary design phase and does not provide enough details for developing a fully detailed maintenance strategy. Therefore, through a System Engineering approach, a set of assumptions was conceived on the launcher structure, as a basis for development of a Remote Handling strategy. Moreover, to compare different design solutions related to the possibility of integrating a quasi-optical component into the Blanket Shield Module, a Trade-Off was made, and its contents are shown here. The outcome of this System Engineering approach has been formalized into Task Definition Forms whose contents are reported here. The Remote Handling strategy presented in this work will be tested in the near future both through Virtual Reality simulations and through prototype experiments.

In tele-operation, haptic feedback from the remote environment to the human is often limited, which has been shown to negatively influence the performance and required time of tasks. The conventional research focus is on improving the quality of the haptic feedback (transparency), which may have led to significant improvement, but is still imperfect, with many unresolved issues. The present study presents an alternative approach to improve tele-operated tasks: by offering haptic shared control in which both operator and support system apply the required forces at the input (master) device. It is hypothesized that virtual forces from well-designed shared control will improve required time and accuracy, with less control effort, and that these benefits exist for perfect transparency but even more so for imperfect transparency. In an experimental study haptic shared control was designed to aid operators (n=9) with performing a simple bolt-spanner task using a planar (2D, 3DOF) tele-operator setup. The experimental results provided evidence for the hypotheses, showing that the tested tele-manipulation task benefits from haptic shared control, for three different levels of transparency. Essentially, the presence of haptic shared control allows for a worse transparency without compromising required time, and can even improve required time during perfect transparency.

A new facility has been taken in operation to investigate the influence of visual and haptic feedback on the performance of remotely executed ITER RH maintenance tasks. A reference set of representative ITER remote handling maintenance tasks was included the master slave manipulator system (MS2) benchmark product. The benchmark product was used in task performance tests in a representative two-handed dexterous manipulation test bed at NRG. In the setup, the quality of visual feedback was varied by exchanging direct view with indirect view setups in which visual feedback is provided via video cameras. Interaction forces were measured via an integrated force sensor. The impact of feedback quality on the performance of maintenance tasks at the level of handling individual parts was measured and analysed. Remote execution of the maintenance actions took roughly 3-5 times more time than hands-on. Visual feedback was identified as the dominant factor, including aspects like (lack of) operator control over camera placement, pan, tilt and zoom, lack of 3D perception, image quality, and latency. Haptic feedback was found to be important, but only in specific contact transition and constrained motion tasks. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

All ITER sub-systems of remote handling (RH) classes 1 and 2 have to be remotely maintainable. The maintenance strategy for these components has to ensure system availability after failure or scheduled maintenance. This paper shows how virtual reality (VR) simulation [1] can be used as a tool to analyze the maintenance process, to predict the mean time to repair and to ensure the RH compatibility of one ITER sub-system, the Upper Port Launcher (UPL) [2]. Special emphasis is put on the development of RH procedures and the identification of tooling requirements. The possibility to Simulate RH logistics and repair actions in an early stage of the design process allows for the identification of those maintenance actions that require dedicated tests in the Launcher Handling Test Facility at Karlsruhe. The VR analysis. together with dedicated mock-up tests will demonstrate the RH compatibility of the UPL plug, provide input to the design of the Port Plug maintenance area in the ITER Hot Cell, and support the development of RH maintenance tooling. (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Already in the early phase of a design for ITER, the maintenance aspects should be taken into account, since they might have serious implications. This paper presents the arguments in support of the case for the maintainability of the design, notably if this maintenance is to be performed by advanced remote methods. This structure is compliant to the evolving maintenance strategy of ITER. Initial results of a Failure Mode Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) and a development risk analysis for the ITER upper port plug #3, housing the Charge Exchange Recombination Spectroscopy (CXRS) diagnostic, are employed for the definition of the maintenance strategy. The CXRS upper port plug is essentially an optical system which transfers visible light from the plasma into a fiber bundle. The most critical component in this path is the first mirror (M1) whose reflectivity degrades during operation due to deposition and/or erosion dominated effects. Amongst other measures to mitigate these effects, the strategy is to allow for a replacement of this mirror. Therefore it is mounted on a retractable central tube. The main purpose of this tube is to make frequent replacements possible without hindering operation. The maintenance method in terms of time, geometry and spare part policy has a large impact on cost of the system and time usage in the hot cell. Replacement of the tube under vacuum and magnetic field seems infeasible due to the operational risk involved. The preferred solution is to have a spare tube available which is replaced in parallel with other maintenance operations on the vessel, as to avoid any interference in the hot cell with the shutdown scheduling. This avoids having to refurbish a full port plug and also allows for a more frequent replacement of M1, as we can replace the mirror anytime the vacuum vessel is vented, estimated to be once a year. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The current design of the ITER cask for Upper Port Plugs has been evaluated. Careful reduction of the number of mechanical degrees of freedom is an opportunity to relax the tolerances in the design, resulting in cost reduction and reliability increase. A new kinematical design for the tractor module has a higher stiffness to weight ratio, reduces actuator forces by a factor four and minimizes cross-talk between lift and rotation motion. Non-cantilevered handling is recommended to reduce wheel loads on the tractor by a factor six and to simplify guidance. At the system level the tubular guide (TG) is proposed, a semipermanent 3.5 m long tube which is an extension of the Upper Port. Cask docking is simplified and the risk of the cask tilting is prevented. Redesigning the system concept is recommended and the TG looks promising. Since a system level redesign impacts the external interfaces, overall feasibility has to be investigated. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.