Quantitative comparison of bilateral teleoperation systems using H∞ framework

Since teleoperation systems are mostly executed in the extreme environment, there are constraints in designing the mechanism and choosing sensors. This paper presents a novel quantitative comparison method of teleoperators based on H∞ framework. The upper H∞ norm bound of the system including H∞ sub optimal controller is used as the performance index. As a case study, the method is applied to a real teleoperation system to study the effects of sensory configuration and back-drivability of the mechanism on the performance of the system in tasks which involve different environment impedances. It can be important criteria to design a teleoperator from the control point of view.