Master-Slave Control Method for Hydraulic Excavator

A new master-slave controlmethod is presented with a different configuration that will suit a hydraulic excavator operation. A new coordinate conversion method between master and slave manipulators is introduced. This method provides good agreement in direction of movement between master and slave manipulators in the almost entire work area without any mode change. The authors also developed a new 3-dimensional joystick as a master manipulator that has affinity with a conventional joystick and gives a comfortable feeling to conservative operators. In this paper, an outline of the new method is described and results of evaluation tests are presented.