Encoding Biomechanical Energy Margin into Passivity-based Synchronization for Networked Telerobotic Systems

TL;DR

This paper introduces TBPS2, a biomechanics-aware passivity-based method for improving position synchronization and stability in networked telerobotic systems, especially under communication delays.

Contribution

It presents a novel stabilizer that incorporates human biomechanics into passivity-based synchronization, reducing conservatism and enhancing performance in teleoperation.

Findings

TBPS2 improves position synchronization accuracy.

The method maintains stability under communication delays.

Experimental results outperform existing solutions.

Abstract

Maintaining system stability and accurate position tracking is imperative in networked robotic systems, particularly for haptics-enabled human-robot interaction. Recent literature has integrated human biomechanics into the stabilizers implemented for teleoperation, enhancing force preservation while guaranteeing convergence and safety. However, position desynchronization due to imperfect communication and non-passive behaviors remains a challenge. This paper proposes a two-port biomechanics-aware passivity-based synchronizer and stabilizer, referred to as TBPS2. This stabilizer optimizes position synchronization by leveraging human biomechanics while reducing the stabilizer's conservatism in its activation. We provide the mathematical design synthesis of the stabilizer and the proof of stability. We also conducted a series of grid simulations and systematic experiments, comparing their performance with that of state-of-the-art solutions under varying time delays and environmental conditions.