A DESIGN AND CONTROL ENVIRONMENT FOR INTERNET-BASED TELEROBOTICS

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.