A modular ROS platform for teleoperation of a KUKA iiwa robot with task-specific haptic feedback

In recent years, robot-assisted orthopaedic surgery has undergone considerable development. At the same time, novel computer vision methods and hardware, are taking on an increasingly important role in medical engineering improving the efficiency of the surgery. This work presents the design of a ROS platform to teleoperate a 7 degree of freedom robotic arm (KUKA iiwa 7 LBR 800) using a haptic device. The teleoperation aims to realise a hole in a target position which is identified and estimated through an RGBD camera mounted directly on the KUKA’s end-effector. Analysing the advantages of using the haptic feedback and the RGBD camera for the working area setting and calibration, the goal was to maintain the accuracy of the operation, both in terms of position and hole dimension, below one millimetre. This thesis was developed under the supervision of both Polytechnic University of Turin and Imperial College London. All the experiments were carried out in the Mechatronics in Medicine Laboratory at Imperial College London.