Internet-based teleoperation of a mobile robot using shared impedance control scheme: a pilot study

In this paper, a shared impedance control scheme is proposed for Internet-based teleoperation of mobile robots. Also, pilot study is conducted to evaluate the effect of different teleoperation parameters. In particular, the effects of time delay, human operator training history, operator-machine interface modalities such as degree of haptic versus visual integration, and performance of virtual model versus real images were studied. The scheme was implemented using Matlab XPC Target and Simulink. Several measures were introduced for the evaluation of teleoperation performance. The study confirmed the significance of haptic cues integration for improving teleoperation of mobile robots. The results suggest that appropriate integration of haptic feedback to a proper image feedback could result in a relatively reliable teleoperation in unstructured environments, e.g., for dynamic obstacle avoidance