Teleoperator control system design with human in control loop and telemonitoring force feedback

A design methodology for an advanced teleoperator control system using the paradigm of telemonitoring is presented. Human dynamics reacting to visual and kinesthetic force feedback is modeled and incorporated into the control loop for designing and evaluating teleoperator control systems. Monitoring force feedback is proposed for achieving a new kinesthetic coupling between the human operator and manipulators under significant communication time delay and shared control. A comparative study shows that (1) teleoperator control systems designed without human dynamics in the control loop become valid when a human is added to the control loop, and that (2) teleoperator control systems aimed at achieving telepresence or a passive system suffer from either poor performance or instability under communication time delay. Based on the comparative study, an optimal structure of the teleoperator system for resolving considerable communication time delay is proposed.<>