Stability In Bilateral Teleoperation Research Articles

Experimental Assessment of Absolute Stability in Bilateral Teleoperation.

Absolute stability analysis of bilateral teleoperation systems are typically model-based. Under borderline conditions of absolute stability, depending on the degree of uncertainty in the dynamic model of the teleoperator and existing noise, the system may behave as potentially unstable when the model-based analysis predicts otherwise. In this article, we propose a methodology to experimentally verify the absolute stability of master-slave teleoperation systems. Since absolute stability demands bounds of all possible environments, we achieve this by conducting only three experiments that are often experienced in teleoperation: free slave, mass-carrying slave and locked slave (rigid environment). We will validate and compare our proposed method with the benchmark Llewellyns absolute stability criterion. Furthermore, we will examine the robustness of the proposed method and will provide guidelines for choosing the mass for the mass-carrying load condition.

Adaptive Control of Bilateral Teleoperation with Time Delay

This paper presents model-based predictive controllers that achieve a high level of transparency while maintaining stability in bilateral teleoperation under known constant or variable time delay. This goal is accomplished by utilizing available information on system model and time delay within an adaptive predictive control framework. The performance objectives are delay-free position tracking between the master and slave and the establishment of virtual mass-damper tool impedance between the user and environment. The controllers adapt to parameter changes in the user, environment as well as the master and slave dynamics. Delay reduction is accomplished based on a state observer and estimates of the system parameters. Using the delay-reduced dynamics, an adaptive output regulation problem is formulated and solved to obtain the control laws. A Lyapunov analysis of the performance and stability of the resulting system is presented. The proposed controllers are evaluated experimentally under constant and variable delay conditions.