Robustly stable rate-mode bilateral teleoperation using an energy-bounding approach

Abstract: This paper presents an energy-bounding approach to a rate-mode bilateral control of remote vehicles in order to guarantee the robust system stability in variable time-delayed and data-dropped telecommunication environments. The velocity error between desired and actual remote vehicle velocities is reflected in term of force in order to maintain the desired velocity by the operator during the normal driving in obstacle-free environments and in order to detect the collision when colliding with a high impedance wall. A rate-mode energy-bounding algorithm is devised for these teleoperation scenarios in order to feel velocity differences sensitively while guaranteeing robust interaction stability. Effectiveness of the proposed approach is shown by some typical experimental results in the simulated variable time-delayed and data-dropped environments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]