MODEL-BASED SUPERVISORY CONTROL IN TELEROBOTICS

Model-based approaches can be used to confront several of the challeng ing performance issues in teleoperation. This paper describes a model- based supervisory control technique for telerobotics. A human-machine interface (HMI) was developed for online, interactive task segmentatio n and planning utilizing a world model of the telerobotic working envi ronment (TRWE). The task model is transferred intermittently over a lo w bandwidth communication channel for interpretation, planning, and ex ecution of the task segments through the autonomous control capabiliti es of a telerobot. For the purposes of outlining tasks, a human operat or controls a simulation model to generate a ''task sequence script'' as a sequential list of desired sub-goals for a telerobot. A graphic u ser interface (GUI) facilitates the development of the task sequence s cript with viewing perspectives of the graphic display automatically s elected as a function of the operational state and model parameters. A lso, because the human operator is specifying discrete model set-point s of the TRWE, and allowing the autonomous control capabilities of the telerobot to coordinate the actual trajectory between set-points, a p rovision is made to preview the proposed trajectory for approval or mo dification before execution. Preliminary results with a manipulator ar m remotely controlled via the Internet demonstrate the utility of the model-based supervisory control technique.