A predictive energy-bounding approach for Haptic teleoperation

In this paper, a predictive energy-bounding approach (EBA) is presented for haptic bilateral teleoperation that is robustly stable for any time delay and data losses as well as for any uncertain environments over any network. The proposed scheme (termed as Predictive EBA) combines the bilateral EBA with Smith predictor (SP) architecture in the master site which predicts the slave (site) states on the master site to improve the force tracking transparency using the SP while the bilateral EBA guarantees robust stability against any uncertainties. Quantitative and qualitative transparency analyses of bilateral EBA and Predictive EBA shows significant improvement in phase of feedback force and consequently the perceived impedance if the slave/environment dynamics are well known. The proposed predictive EBA also allows any feedback signals such as measured contact forces/torques, position error based forces, and obstacle avoidance forces from slave sites. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed predictive EBA for any large time delay while keeping robust stability of the overall system. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.