Design of control functions for an internet-based tele-robotic laboratory

Tele-robotic is one of the most popular remote control applications. It proves very useful to help humans perform various tasks, from standard industrial applications to performing tasks that are too difficult or dangerous to do by a person. Nowadays tele-robotic applications as a tool for training and education have also been increasingly popular. The development of a tele-robotic system requires handling the control design as well as the programming, that it gives an excellent practical training to students. In this paper, the development of a control remote laboratory that applies this tele-robotic technology is reported. The system architecture and the control functions within the facility are discussed. The use of minimum hardware for the servers while keeping the functions modular is proposed, and the advantages of this approach in terms of reliability and accessibility are highlighted. Some experimental results are presented, to show the functionalities of this facility to support control engineering and robotics education for engineering students at both introductory and advanced levels.