Simple and Robust Attainment of Transparency Based on Two-Channel Control Architectures Using Time-Delay Control

Abstract

This paper investigates simple and robust transparency-attainable control architectures for bilateral teleoperation. The strength of two-channel control architectures and time-delay control are exploited. First, two types of transparency-attainable two-channel control architecture are derived. In spite of the simplicity of using two communication channels, these architectures have problems in terms of implementation; they are not simple enough and not robust to uncertainties, such as errors in modeling the plant and force sensor noise. To solve the problems, time-delay control laws for two-channel control architecture are proposed. The model-independent, nonlinear, and robust characteristics of time-delay control mitigate the problems related to complexity and robustness. Finally, the proposed control laws are applied to experiments using a 2-DOF master-slave system. The experimental results confirm the validity of the theoretical approaches.