Bilateral telecontrol of AutoMerlin mobile robot

Abstract

This paper addresses bilateral teleoperation of a motor vehicle type mobile robot AutoMerlin over local area network (LAN) having communication impediments like packet drop, duplication, out of order etc. The proposed teleoperation scheme enables the human operator to drive the AutoMerlin mobile robot by maneuvering a haptic force feedback joystick. Environmental force acting on mobile robot has been modeled based on frictional force acting on mobile robot and virtual repulsive force due to obstacles in the environment. This force has been rendered to the human operator. The sensation of this force has been provided to human operator via haptic force feedback joystick. This force enables the human operator to avoid obstacles and perform teleoperation conveniently. The Time Domain Passivity Control (TDPC) has been implemented for the AutoMerlin mobile robot teleoperation with energy monitoring approach. Communication channel has been modeled as a Two-port network. Passivity Observer (PO) and Passivity Controllers (PC) have been implemented to keep the Two-port network passive. Stability has been analyzed and preliminary experimental results have shown the feasibility of the proposed teleoperation scheme.