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LEAD RESEARCHER: OZAN TOKATLI I received my PhD degree in Mechatronics Engineering from Sabanci University, in 2015. After completing my post-doctoral research in the Haptics Laboratory of the University of Reading, I joined RACE, UKAEA as a Research Engineer. My research interests are the control of physical human-robot interaction and the shared control in teleoperation. In the RAIN Hub, I am working on assistive teleoperation methods for glove box operations. Particularly interested in solving the robot inverse kinematics problem from an operator assistance perspective. The RAIN Hub intellectually inspired me to evolve my research to solve the most challenging robotics problems of the nuclear industry. ASSISTIVE HUMAN-ROBOT INTERACTION UNIQUENESS // The existing teleoperation-based solutions in the nuclear industry often reflects conservative characteristics, and assistance to the operator is not addressed in most of these robotic systems. These robotic systems mostly rely on the joint control where each joint of the robot is commanded by the operator. The degree of flexibility for moving the robot is in expense of harder planning on the tool tip since the motion-relation between the robot joints and the tool used for manipulation is not trivial. The aim of the research is to enable the operator to work solely on the robot tool while the motion of the joints is handled by the novel inverse kinematics algorithm which is significantly useful for redundant robots. In the approach, the tool motion commanded by the operator is mapped into robot joint motion while considering additional performance measures. The result is a robot joint trajectory which is safe for manipulation (e.g. singularity free) and lower task load on the operator (e.g. collision avoidance is handled by the inverse kinematics algorithm). SUMMARY // Post operational clean out (POCO) is an arduous process for operators working in nuclear decommissioning. These operations bring two main challenges: i) radiation hazard, ii) laborious and inefficient manipulation. Teleoperated robots offer a solution to the many challenges faced in the nuclear industry, specifically POCO processes. By using a teleoperated robot, the human operator is removed from the radiation hazard area while task completion is sustained. However, teleoperated robotics is not a trivial way of manipulating objects in the environment and causes higher task loads on operators. Research work has been undertaken on methods to assist the operators and reduce the task load on them during telemanipulation. Moreover, for a cluttered confined space such as a glovebox, the task of remote manipulation becomes harder. The research aims to discover and implement novel assistance methods so that the remote manipulation becomes easier and more natural to the operator. 54

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