Interactive Robot Control System for Teleoperation

In this paper a control architecture and system is proposed which allows human supervisory for teleoperators in a time delayed environment. The integrated operation concept defines two phases. The first phase is alternatively an automatic or operator driven "preparation" phase, including off-line planning facilities with real-time simulation on 3D computer graphics for verification of robust operation sequences. The second one is the "execution" phase, with automatic robot action execution on a sensor based telerobot and if required, operator support for exception handling and recovery. The two phase concept fulfils the requirements for operator controlled "teleprogramming" of external remote devices and solves the problem of transmission time delays of more than one second. The local control system is designed as a hierarchical architecture, where each level is supported by an appropriate programming language and efficient man machine interfaces for operator interaction.