NASREN: Standard reference model for telerobot control

A hierarchical architecture is described which supports space station telerobots in a variety of modes. The system is divided into three hierarchies: task decomposition, world model, and sensory processing. Goals at each level of the task dedomposition heirarchy are divided both spatially and temporally into simpler commands for the next lower level. This decomposition is repreated until, at the lowest level, the drive signals to the robot actuators are generated. To accomplish its goals, task decomposition modules must often use information stored it the world model. The purpose of the sensory system is to update the world model as rapidly as possible to keep the model in registration with the physical world. The architecture of the entire control system hierarch is described and how it can be applied to space telerobot applications.