Kinematics and duty cycles of the SM-229 force reflecting servomanipulator

This thesis is the first known experimental study of servomanipulator duty cycles to appear in the literature. The servomanipulator used was a TeleOperator Systems Model SM-229. The experimental approach used was to record the joint positions and motor currents of the right slave arm at a rate of 10 Hz over about 50 hours of typical remote manipulation operations. The results are presented as position usage patterns in joint and real-world coordinates, time-use histograms of joint velocities and motor currents, and three-dimensional mechanical power histograms for each joint. All results are presented in dimensionless form, scaled to the design ranges of the manipulator and the total operation time recorded. Applications of this study include improvements in kinematic ranges, gear reductions, motor sizings, drive configurations and stress relief. Included in appendices are an uncertainty analysis, calibration procedures, and analysis of the kinematics of the manipulator.