Mobile – robot remote control and communication system design P. Petrova, R. Zahariev Central Laboratory of Mechatronics and Instrumentation Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Telerobot-Control and Communication2 Telerobotics Introduction –History and use of Telerobots –Virtual Reality Teleoperation –Teleoperation and Telepresence –Tele-action Interfaces –Wireless connections: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth –“threaded” connections –Internet

Telerobot-Control and Communication3 Main Applications Exploration, monitoring and surveillance –Space exploration –Underwater/surface exploration –Wildlife observation –Fire awareness monitoring –Debris cleaning and human rescue –Spy-robots Household and education –Household appliances control –Virtual simulators and games –Virtual-distance laboratories Manipulations from distance, indirect manipulations –Bomb defusal –Tele-surgery –Nuclear decontamination and decommissioning

Telerobot-Control and Communication4 Telerobot Characteristics Operation mode –Autonomous cyclic operation –Semi-autonomous – surveillance algorithm can be interrupted by operator –Operator-controlled Control interfaces –Combination of several interfaces working interchangeably –Possible direct (RF) or indirect (Network) control Structure –Form –Components –Movement method – wheels, caterpillar tracks stc.

Telerobot-Control and Communication5 Hardware Mobile – Robot components: Monitoring – camera and microphones Sensors – possibility for night vision (IR), distance sensors, obstacle sensors Autonomous power supply – long lasting, easy changeable/ rechargeable, power saving operation Local data storage – backup Network components: Server PC Client PCs

Telerobot-Control and Communication6 Access Types SOSR, single-operator multiple-robot –Most networked robots are SOSR, where control is limited to one human operator at a time –each operator controls one robot arm and the robot arms have overlapping workspaces MOMR multiple-operator multiple-robot –MOMR models are also relevant to on-line collaborative games, where players remotely control individual avatars in a shared virtual environment SOMR single-operator multiple-robot –one human operator controls multiple robots. A variant is no-operator multiple-robot (NOMR) systems, sometimes called collaborative or cooperative robotics, where groups of autonomous robots interact to solve an objective MOSR multiple-operator single-robot –serial pipelined communication, with overlapping plan and execution phases; such collaboration improves overall execution time, but do not address conflict resolution between user

Telerobot-Control and Communication7 MOSR Network Structure

Telerobot-Control and Communication8 System Structure

Telerobot-Control and Communication9 Communication Software Top Level – Server-Client-based –Server application –Client application – Java based applet Low Level – embedded –Embedded C/C++ based control program –Global trajectory planning –Obstacle avoidance and smoothing algorithms –GPS information and control

Telerobot-Control and Communication10 GUI Off-the-shelf realization - LabView –Widely used software environment –Facilitates modification of functionality –Enables visual robot programming Custom-made realization – Visual C++ –Component-based software approach –Low-level control functions integration –Library implementation Graphical programming techniques can be used the implementation LabView

Telerobot-Control and Communication11 Software Operation Modes Access –Direct online monitoring – “live” feed – robot -> operator –Downloadable client-server applications – bidirectional communication –Direct RF control – short range - bidirectional Data transfer and storage –Server side data storage –Data visualization – calculations and formatting algorithms –Online activity history

Telerobot-Control and Communication12 Security Issues Hardware reliability in hazardous environment Operations queue – prioritization Malicious activity reliability Platform independency TCP advantages/disadvantages User Access/Registration – management –Do we want anybody to be able to access and operate the robot? Operation mode management

Telerobot-Control and Communication13 Conclusions The described architecture provides versatility to the mobile- robot, allowing for application modification The combination of commercial and custom-designed software facilitates the design and provides higher reliability The system could enhance the conduction of some on-field measurement experiments, allowing “on-line” access without necessary human presence