Audio-visual guided predictive simulator in multi-telerobot coordination

The MEL is developing technologies for multi-robot collaboration in remote environments with the TMSL. In the paper, an audio-visual guided predictive simulator is described to cope with the operator's delayed visual perception in the multi-operator-multi-robot (MOMR) tele-collaborative system through a network with time delay. The communication delay over the network would seriously affect the collaboration performance in the MOMR tele-manipulation and accordingly require an additional information to guide the operators. We have built an experimental test bed in MEL and TMSL to investigate the time-delayed remote collaboration. In the test bed, one operator controls her master hand nearby two cooperating slave robot systems and another from a distance. Several coordination methods are exploited by employing the audio-visual guided predictive simulator to avoid the collision arising from the communication delay. To verify the validity of the predictive simulator assisted scheme, we have demonstrated a maintenance work on a plant mock-up by two different slave systems and two distant operators through an integrated services digital ne/sub t/work (ISDN).