R. Oboe et P. Fiorini, A DESIGN AND CONTROL ENVIRONMENT FOR INTERNET-BASED TELEROBOTICS, The International journal of robotics research, 17(4), 1998, pp. 433-449
Citations number
33
Categorie Soggetti
Robotics & Automatic Control","Robotics & Automatic Control
This paper describes an environment for the design, simulation, and co
ntrol of Internet-based force-reflecting telerobotic systems. We defin
e these systems as using a segment of the computer network to connect
the master to the slave. Computer networks introduce a time delay that
is best described by a time-varying random process. Thus, known techn
iques for controlling time-delay telerobots are not directly applicabl
e, and an environment for iterative designing and testing is necessary
. The underlying software architecture supports tools for modeling the
delay of the computer network, designing a stable controller simulati
ng the performance of a telerobotic system, and testing the control al
gorithms using a force-reflecting input device. Furthermore, this setu
p provides data about including the Internet into more general telerob
otic control architectures. To demonstrate the features of this enviro
nment, the complete procedure for the design of a telerobotic controll
er is discussed. First, the delay parameters of an Internet segment ar
e identified by probing the network. Then, these parameters are used i
n the design of a controller that includes a quasi-optimal estimator t
o compensate small data losses. Finally, simulations of the complete t
elerobotic system and emulations using a planar-force-reflecting maste
r and a virtual slave exemplify a typical design-and-test sequence.