Design of a static output feedback controller for bilateral teleoperation* *The work of T. Delwiche is supported by a FRIA grant. The setup is financed by the FNRS (ID 1.5.031.06). This paper presents research results of the Belgian Network DYSCO (Dynamical Systems, Control, and Optimization), funded by the Interuniversity Attraction Poles Programme, initiated by the Belgian State, Science Policy Office. The scientific responsibility rests with its authors. The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding of the Tournesol project established in the framework of the Hubert Curien partnerships with the support of Wallonie-Bruxelles International, the FNRS and the French ministries of foreign affairs and scientific research

Traditional H ∞ design methods available in commercial softwares lead to controllers which present the same order as the model of the plant. Considering the high order of teleoperation systems, implementing such controllers may require the use of order-reduction methods. To avoid this extra step in the design, we propose to produce fixed-order controllers directly based on a full-order model of the system. In this paper, a zero-order (static output feedback) controller is designed for a teleoperation system. The design procedure, based on a cone complementary formulation is described and applied to a 22 nd -order model of the system. The resulting controller is implemented on a one degree of freedom teleoperation system. The experimental results obtained with this simple control structure validate the use of very low order control structures in the case of teleoperation systems with the extra advantage, with respect to conventional H ∞ design techniques, that the involved and time-consuming order reduction step is avoided.