Transparency of a pneumatic teleoperation system using on/off solenoid valves

This paper presents a new predictive hybrid control law for a pneumatic teleoperation system using solenoid valves. Based on a predictive model of the mass flow rate of the valves, this method is used within a four-channel (4CH) bilateral control architecture for haptic teleoperation. An analysis of the controller parameters is carried out in order to achieve acceptable performances. To evaluate the new strategy, a comparison study has been performed with a classical PWM control of a teleoperation system. The results show that the accuracy in position and force tracking in steady state but also the dynamic behavior of the pressures are better in the case of hybrid control than PWM control.