Application-specific modelling of assisted telemanipulation systems in the early design phase using the i* framework

In assisted telemanipulation systems, operators are supported by an automated virtual actor. Because the integration of a virtual actor changes the concept of operations of a system, selection of the appropriate automation concept is application-specific and part of the early design phase. Although various methods exist to support this selection, they provide limited means to assess the viability of the resulting system concept. Therefore, this paper introduces the i* modelling framework as an additional tool to support this selection. Using the example of a Haptic Shared Control telemanipulation system, this paper shows how i* models can be used for the goal-based implementation of an automated virtual actor, and to assess its impact on the system. i* models also help to identify unintended side effects of such implementation and provide a first indication of the impact on system complexity.