Tele-Robotic ATHLETE Controller for Kinematics —TRACK

TRACK is a specialized controller for the All-Terrain Hex-Limbed Extra-Terrestrial Explorer Robot (ATHLETE), which has six limbs with six kinematic degrees of freedom each. TRACK is a 1/8-scale sensed but un-actuated model of one ATHLETE limb (see figure), designed to be used as a human-interface device to aid operations. TRACK is useful in cases where the whole-limb posture must be unambiguously commanded — for example, to maximize rigidity, available range of motion, or to avoid nearby obstacles. Because TRACK mimics the link lengths and geometry of ATHLETE as well as the joint angle limits, its kinematic workspace is representative of the actual ATHLETE limb workspace.