Remote variable access protocol for data-centric telerobotics

Abstract

A telerobot is a robot that accepts instructions from a distance, generally from a trained human operator, chiefly using TCP/IP network. The human operator thus performs live actions in a distant environment and through sensors can gauge the consequences. This paper proposes remote variable access protocol for data-centric telerobots (RVAP). The protocol provides three main functionalities for telerobotic system. First, it easily transmits a remote variable in a distant environment. It provides two types of transmission mechanism, based on request/response model and publish/subscribe model. Second, it marshals/unmarshals primitive and complex types of a remote data. Third, it automatically manages TCP and UDP network connections. We have implemented RVAP and evaluated it on a data centric haptic-mobile telerobot control system.