This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been
fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TII.2019.2950617, IEEE
Transactions on Industrial Informatics
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS
On Robust Control of Nonlinear Teleoperators
under Dynamic Uncertainties with Variable Time
Delays and without Relative Velocity
Yen-Chen Liu, Senior Member, IEEE, Phuong Nam Dao, and Kai Yong Zhao
Abstract—This paper proposed robust control algo-
rithms to cope with dynamic uncertainties in nonlinear
bilateral teleoperation system with variable time delays and
without relative velocity. With the design of sliding mode
control, the robust teleoperator is stable and the solutions
are ultimately bounded if the control gains are contingent
to the time delays. To tackle the requirement of relative
velocity, another control algorithm is presented with the
consideration of disturbance to show the robustness of the
teleoperation system. Subsequently, the modified robust
controller with exponential control terms is addressed to
ensure position coordination and convergence of sliding
vector in the proposed systems. Simulation and experi-
mental results are illustrated to show the efficacy of the
proposed robust controllers for nonlinear teleoperator, and
the force information is acquired to demonstrate the perfor-
mance of force reflection.
Index Terms—Bilateral teleoperation, robust control,
communication delays, dynamic uncertainties, sliding
mode control, position coordination
I. I NTRODUCTION
B ILATERAL teleoperation systems have been extensively
exploited in industrial applications such as space explo-
ration, rehabilitation, robotic telesurgery, training, and oper-
ation in nuclear power plant for tasks in hazardous/remote
environments [2], [10], [22], [25], [28]. The framework of
teleoperation provides a human operator to interact with a
robotic manipulator remotely via manipulating a local robotic
device. Since the local and remote robots are separated by a
considerable distance, time delays resulting from communica-
tion channels is a crucial issue affecting stability of bilateral
control systems [2], [10], [27]. Moreover, the presence of
dynamic uncertainties and type of external forces influences
tracking performance and transparency, which are two other
significant criterions of teleoperation. Although the studies of
bilateral teleoperation has attracted significant efforts recently,
Manuscript received September 3, 2019; accepted October 26, 2019.
This work was supported in part by the Ministry of Science and Technol-
ogy (MOST), Taiwan, under grant MOST 108-2636-E-006-007 (Young
Scholar Fellowship Program), and the Headquarters of University Ad-
vancement at the National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), which is
sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Taiwan.
Y.-C. Liu and K. Y. Zhao are with the Department of Mechanical
Engineering, National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), Tainan 70101,
Taiwan (e-mail: yliu@mail.ncku.edu.tw).
P. N. Dao is with School of Electrical Engineering, Hanoi Uni-
versity of Science and Technology (HUST), Hanoi, Vietnam (e-mail:
nam.daophuong@hust.edu.vn).
1551-3203 (c) 2019 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
controlling such systems simultaneously with variable time
delays and dynamic uncertainties remains a challenging is-
sue [13], [30], [39].
Several control framework and schemes have been presented
for bilateral teleoperation systems to cope with the issue of
time delays [2], [11], [12], [16], [21], [36]. Based on passivity
technique, the transmission of scattering or wave variables [1],
[22] has been utilized to passify delayed communication
networks to stabilize teleoperators with constant delays. The
idea was extended to bilateral teleoperators with improved
position tracking [4] and under variable time delays [21],
[26], [37]. A PD-like teleoperation control system has been
presented to ensure stability with enhanced position tracking
without relying on scattering transformation [16]. By ex-
changing signals regarding the position, velocity, or torque
through a communication network, teleoperation systems with
variable time delays have been proven to be stable by utilizing
LMI conditions [11]. Recently, robust control algorithms for
bilateral teleoperation systems have been addressed in [7], [38]
for either linear systems or know robot dynamics.
Many control algorithms have been addressed for bilat-
eral teleoperation systems to tackle the issue of dynamic
uncertainties [3], [9], [18], [20], [29], [31], [35]. Controlled
synchronization has been exploited with adaptive law to man-
age delayed teleoperation system under uncertainties [3]. The
technique of adaptive control has been exploited to cope with
uncertain dynamics [29] and input/output disturbances [35] for
teleoperation systems under delayed-free communication. To
cope with variable time delays, the adaptive law presented
in [23] was extended to teleoperators under variable time
delays [30], and in [9] by utilizing switching control input. A
nonlinear adaptive strategies for passive bilateral teleoperation
systems under symmetrical and unsymmetrical time-varying
communication delay has been recently studied in [13]. Gen-
erally speaking, the aforementioned adaptive controllers suffer
from integrating possible noisy measurement and non-zero
force reflection after achieving position coordination [3], [20].
The sliding mode control techniques have also been devel-
oped and implemented in robotics, networked control system,
and bilateral teleoperation system recently [5], [6], [14], [17],
[24], [32]. By considering linear teleoperation systems, sliding
mode control have been studied in [6], but the issue of control
chattering under undesirable robot dynamics could lead to
degraded performance. To improve transparency, sliding mode
control has been applied on bilateral teleoperation system with
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TII.2019.2950617, IEEE
Transactions on Industrial Informatics
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS
ql , ql ql
ql (t − Tl (t ))
τh Local Robust
Tl (t )
Robust
Robot Controller
Comm.
Controller
τl
Tr (t )
qr
qr (t − Tr (t ))
Fig. 1: Control architecture of the robust teleoperation system.
the use of virtual manipulator [14]. Under variable time delays,
impedance control for teleoperation has been studied by utiliz-
ing first-order sliding mode control [24]. Although the control
scheme is robust against time delays, the interaction with
human operator and hard contact to the remote environment
would lead to instability. Recently, a passive-based second-
order mode control was developed for nonlinear teleoperators
under constant unknown delays with known dynamics.
Since sliding mode controller has the potential of being
more robust to model parameter uncertainties, in this paper we
develop robust-based sliding control for bilateral teleoperators
to cope with variable time delays and dynamic uncertainties.
We first propose a robust teleoperator and demonstrate that
if control gains satisfy a condition dependent on the time
delays, stability and position coordination are guaranteed.
However, the teleoperation system requires relative velocity
measurement, where the velocity information has to be trans-
mitted to another robot. Moreover, the possible disturbance
resulting from unreliable network and unmodeled dynamics
were not considered. Therefore, another robust teleoperator
was developed subsequently in this paper to cope unknown
disturbance with the absence of relative velocity. The robust
control law can assure both the stability and boundedness of
solutions if the control gains are selected satisfy the sufficient
condition. Numerical examples and experimental results are
addressed to show the efficiency and performance of the
proposed robust controller for nonlinear bilateral teleoperators.
Notation: In the following of this paper, k · k denotes the
Euclidean norm of the enclosed signal, k · k2 denotes the
L2 norm of the enclosed function, In is an n × n identity
matrix, ˆ· shows the estimation of the enclosed matrix/vector,
and λmin (·), λmax (·) are the minimum/maximum eigenvalue
of the enclosed matrix.
II. P ROBLEM F ORMULATION
Consider the revolute-joint robotic manipulators whose dy-
namic models are modeled by n-DOF Euler-Lagrange equa-
tions and given as [33]

Ml (ql )q̈l + Cl (ql , q̇l )q̇l + gl (ql ) = τl + τh
(1)
Mr (qr )q̈r + Cr (qr , q̇r )q̇r + gr (qr ) = τr − τe
where qi ∈ Rn , Mi (qi ) ∈ Rn×n , Ci (qi , q̇i ) ∈ Rn×n ,
gi (qi ) ∈ Rn , τi ∈ Rn are the vectors of applied torques
with i = l and i = r as the local robot and remote robot,
respectively. In (1), τh , τe ∈ Rn denote the forces exerted
by the human operator and from the remote environment on
the local and remote robots, respectively. The above equations
exhibit several fundamental properties [33].
1551-3203 (c) 2019 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
τr Property 1. For ξi ∈ Rn , (1) is linearly parameterizable
Slave
such that Mi (qi )ξ˙i +Ci (qi , q̇i )ξi +gi (qi ) = Yi (qi , q̇i , ξi , ξ˙i )Θi ,
Robot τe where Θi ∈ Rp is a constant vector of parameters, and
qr , qr Yi (qi , q̇i , ξi , ξ˙i ) ∈ Rn×p is a time-varying matrix.
Property 2. Ṁi (qi ) − 2Ci (qi , q̇i ) is skew symmetric under an
appropriate definition of the matrix Ci (qi , q̇i )
Property 3. Mi (qi ) is symmetric, positive-definite with posi-
tive constant mi and m̄i such that mi In ≤ Mi (qi ) ≤ m̄i In .
Property 4. For qi , q̇i , ξi ∈ Rn , there exists positive constant
kc such that kCi (qi , q̇i )ξi k ≤ kc kq̇i kkξi k.
The control framework of the robust teleoperator is shown
in Fig. 1, where the positions of the local and remote robots are
exchanged over delayed network. The communication channel
is considered to subject to variable time delays, Tl (t) (Tr (t)),
which satisfy the following assumption.
Assumption 1. The variable delay Ti (t) is bounded and con-
tinuously differentiable such that 0 ≤ Ti (t) < T̄i < ∞, i =
{l, r}. From the definition of upper bounds of variable time
delays, the upper bound of the round-trip delays is denoted
as T̄ := T̄l + T̄r . In addition, these delays are supposed to
l
satisfy the condition that −Tdi ≤ Ṫi (t) < 1, i = {l, r},
l
where 0 < Tdi ≤ ∞ is the negative of the lower bound of the
derivative of variable time delays Ti (t).
The tracking errors between the local and remote robots
in the system are defined as el (t) = qr (t − Tr (t)) − ql (t)
and er (t) = ql (t − Tl (t)) − qr (t). Moreover, the time-
derivative of the delayed tracking errors are given by ėl (t) =
fr (t)q̇r (t−Tr (t))− q̇l (t) and ėr (t) = fl (t)q̇l (t−Tl (t))− q̇r (t),
where where fi (t) := 1 − Ṫi (t) is positive scalar function. It
is noted that ėi is obtained from taking the time-derivative of
ei . Additionally, we also define the delay-free error between
the local and remote robots as e(t) = ql (t) − qr (t).
For the sake of simplicity, the argument of time-dependent
signals are omitted in the rest of this paper, except for time
delays, limits of signals, and special requirements. In addition,
we denote C = C([−T, 0], Rn ) the Banach space of continuous
functions mapping the interval [−T, 0] into Rn , with the
topology of uniform convergence. Let z be the state of the
system and define zt = z(t+φ) ∈ C, −T ≤ φ ≤ 0 as the state
of the system [8]. We assume in this paper that z(φ) = η(φ),
η ∈ C and all signals belong to L2e , the extended L2 space.
Two lemmas are exploited to study the stability and tracking
performance of the teleoperation system.
Lemma 1. [4] Given x, y ∈ Rn , ∀Ti (t) such that 0 <
Ti (t) ≤ T̄i < ∞, with α > 0 the following inequality holds
Rt R0 T̄ 2
− 0 xT (σ) −Ti (σ) y(σ + θ)dθdσ ≤ α2 kxk22 + 2αi kyk22 .
Lemma 2. [11] Given x, y ∈ Rn , ∀TRi (t) > 0 and a
t
positive-definite matrix Υ, then −2xT (t) t−Ti (t) y(σ)dσ −
Rt
y T (σ)Υy(σ)dσ ≤ T̄i xT (t)Υ−1 x(t).
t−Ti (t)
III. R OBUST C ONTROL FOR B ILATERAL T ELEOPERATION
The goal of this paper is to design robust control algorithms
to cope with nonlinear teleoperators under variable time delays
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TII.2019.2950617, IEEE
Transactions on Industrial Informatics
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS

while the robotic systems are subject to dynamic uncertainties. z̄ = [q̇l , q̇r , el , er ]T by a linear diffeomorphism such that
First, the robust controller is developed with the design of z̄ = P z, where P ∈ R4n×4n is a nonsingular matrix [3], [34].
sliding surface to guarantee position coordination between Thus, we have the first result of this paper.
robots under variable time delays and dynamic uncertainties.
Theorem 1. Consider the nonlinear teleoperation system un-
Subsequently, the robust controller for bilateral teleoperation
der variable time communication delays described by (3), (5),
with disturbance and without relative velocity measurements
and (6) with passive external forces (4), where there exist nom-
are studied in the delay-free network.
inal parameter vectors Θi0 and positive control parameters i
Let’s design the sliding variable as si = −λei + q̇i , where
and ρi . If the control gains satisfy the condition ξl > Λ and
λ is a positive control gain. Traditionally, a sliding model
ξr > Λ, then the position tracking error ei and the robotic
controller should be designed such that si , ṡi → 0; however,
velocity q̇i are ultimately bounded.
for robust controller, si and ṡi needs to be ultimately bounded
with uncertainties, and convergent to the origin in the absence Proof. Consider a positive-definite storage functional for the
of unknown parameters. Thus, by denoting i = {l, r}, the closed-loop system
control input τi for the teleoperation system (1) is given as Z t
1 X  T
V (zt ) = Vpass + si Mi si + kd q̇iT (σ)q̇i (σ)dσ
τi = M̂i (qi )λėi + Ĉi (qi , q̇i )λei + ĝi (qi ) − kt si + kd ėi 2 t−Ti (t)
i={l,r}
= Yi (qi , q̇i , ei , ėi )Θ̂i − kt si + kd ėi , (2) Z t 
+2λkt (σ − t + T̄i )q̇iT (σ)q̇i (σ)dσ + λkd eTi ei +λkt eT e,
where kt and kd are positive control gains, and Property 1 is t−T̄i
utilized in the controller for the second equality withΘ̂i as the Rt Rt
estimation of the unknown robot parameters Θi . where Vpass = − 0 τhT (σ)sl (σ)dσ + 0 τeT (σ)sr (σ)dσ +
By using the control input (2), the teleoperation system (1) ch + ce is the storage function for passive external forces.
can be reformulated as Taking the derivative of V (zt ) along the trajectories of the
 teleoperation system with Property 2 yields
Ml ṡl + Cl sl + kt rl = Yl (Θ̂l − Θl ) + kd ėl + τh
(3) X 
Mr ṡr + Cr sr + kt rr = Yr (Θ̂r − Θr ) + kd ėr − τe . V̇ (zt ) = −kt sTi si + kd sTi ėi + sTi Yi (Θi0 +δΘi −Θi)
In this paper, the robust robotic controller is utilized to i={l,r}

cope with the dynamic uncertainties and estimate Θ̂i in the kd T kd

+λkd eTi ėi + q̇i q̇i − fi (t)q̇iT (t − Ti (t))q̇i (t − Ti (t))
controller when the system is subjected to variable time delays. 2 Z t 2
Following the control system and the assumptions of delays, T

l l +λkt T̄i q̇i q̇i − λkt q̇iT (σ)q̇i (σ)dσ + 2λkt eT ė. (7)
three constants, ξl = kt − kd Tdl /2, ξr = kt − kd Tdr /2, and t−T̄i
Λ = λkt T̄ , are defined for the proof of stability.
By utilizing the additional control input δΘi (6), the term
In the teleoperation system, the human and the remote
sTi Yi (Θi0 +δΘi −Θi ) is upper bounded by i ρi /4.Considering
environment have to apply forces on the local and remote
the first term in the summation −kt sTi si for i = {l, r} with
robots to implement bilateral teleoperation. Thus, we consider
the sliding surface si = −λei + q̇i , we get
the external forces being passive [16], [20] such that
Z t Z t −kt sTi si = −λ2 kt eTi ei − kt q̇iT q̇i + 2λkt q̇iT ei . (8)
T
− τh (σ)sl (σ)dσ ≥ −ch , τeT (σ)sr (σ)dσ ≥ −ce , (4)
0 0 The last term in (8) and 2λkt eT ė in (7) can be combined with
where ch , ce > 0 are positive constants depending on the initial the substitution of delayed errors ei (t) and error e(t), that
storage of the systems.
2λkt q̇lT el + 2λkt q̇rT er + 2λkt eT ė
Z 0 Z 0
= −2λkt q̇lT q̇r (t+σ)dσ+ q̇rT


A. Robust Teleoperator with Variable Time Delays q̇l (t+σ)dσ . (9)
−Tr (t) −Tl (t)
The robust control approach is developed in this section
to study the proposed teleoperator under variable time delays Additionally, the terms kd sTi ėi and λkd eTi ėi with the substi-
and dynamic uncertainties. It is assumed that for the unknown tution of si = −λei + q̇i give that
robotic parameter Θi , there exists a fixed nominal parameter
Θi0 such that kΘi0 − Θi k ≤ ρi , where ρi is the known kd (−λei + q̇i )T ėi + λkd eTi ėi = kd q̇iT ėi . (10)
boundedness of the dynamic uncertainty. The estimate of Moreover, kd q̇iT ėi in the above equation can be expanded by
unknown parameter in (2) and (3) is considered to be substituting ėi such that
Θ̂i = Θi0 + δΘi , (5) kd q̇lT ėl = −kd q̇lT q̇l + kd fr (t)q̇lT q̇r (t − Tr (t)), (11)
where δΘi is an additional control that is defined as kd q̇rT ėr = −kd q̇rT q̇r + kd fl (t)q̇rT q̇l (t − Tl (t)). (12)
YTs
(
−ρi kYiT sii k , if kYiT si k > i Hence, the fifth and sixth terms in (7) with kd q̇iT ėi in the
δΘi = i (6)
− ρii YiT si , if kYiT si k ≤ i above equations can be written as

with a positive control gain i . Denoting the state of the robust

X  kd kd 
kd q̇iTėi + q̇iTq̇i − fi (t)q̇iT (t−Ti (t))q̇i (t−Ti (t))
teleoperator by z = [sl , sr , el , er ]T , it is related to the vector 2 2
i={l,r}

1551-3203 (c) 2019 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TII.2019.2950617, IEEE
Transactions on Industrial Informatics
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS

kd
T
τh and τe are piecewise continuous and bounded, τh , τe ∈


=− fr (t) q̇l − q̇r (t − Tr (t)) q̇l − q̇r (t − Tr (t)))
2 L∞ , the next result follows from Theorem 1 for the proposed
kd
T

− fl (t) q̇r − q̇l (t − Tl (t)) q̇r − q̇l (t − Tl (t)) teleoperation systems with non-passive forces.
2
l l Corollary 1. Consider the nonlinear teleoperation system
kd kd kd Tdr kd Tdl
−Ṫr (t) q̇lT q̇l − Ṫl (t) q̇rT q̇r ≤ q̇lT q̇l + q̇ T q̇r , described by (3), (5), and (6) with bounded external forces τh
2 2 2 2 r
where the inequality results from Assumption 1. Consequently, and τe . If the control gains satisfy the condition ξl > Λ and
V̇( zt ) in (7) by employing the above mathematical formula- ξr > Λ with the given nominal parameter vector Θi0 , positive
tions and applying the condition Ti (t) < T̄i for the term of control parameters i and ρi , then the position tracking error
integration becomes ei and the robotic velocity q̇i are ultimately bounded.
X  Proof. By considering the positive-definite storage functional

V̇ (zt ) ≤ −λ2 kt eTi ei −kt q̇iT q̇i +i ρi /4+λkt T̄i q̇iT q̇i
as in Theorem 1 and following the proof of Theorem 1, the
i={l,r}
Z 0 Z 0 derivative of V̇ (zt ) can be written as
−2λkt q̇lT q̇r (t + σ)dσ−2λkt q̇rT q̇l (t + σ)dσ X  
−Tr (t) −Tl (t) V̇ (zt ) ≤ − λ2 kt eTi ei + i ρi /4 + sTl τh + sTr τe
Z t Z t i={l,r}
T
−λkt q̇l (σ)q̇l (σ)dσ−λkt q̇rT (σ)q̇r (σ)dσ l
kd Tdr l
kd Tdl
− λkt T̄ q̇lT q̇l − kt − − λkt T̄ q̇rT q̇r .



t−Tl (t) t−Tr (t) − kt −
l l 2 2
kd Tdr kd Tdl
+ q̇lT q̇l + q̇rT q̇r . (13) n
Let’s denote βh , βe ∈ R the upper bound of τh and τe and
2 2
kf := kβh k + kβe k. By following similar notations defined in
Utilizing Lemma 2 for the integral terms, the derivative of the
the proof of Theorem 1, the derivative can be rewritten as
storage functional is given as
X  V̇ (zt ) ≤ −kmin kp (1 − η)kzk2 ,

V̇ (zt ) ≤ −λ2 kt eTi ei −kt q̇iT q̇i +i ρi /4 + λkt T̄ q̇iT q̇i q
i={l,r} kf + kf2 + 4kmin kp k η
l
kd Tdr l
kd Tdl ∀kzk ≥ . (17)
+ q̇lT q̇l + q̇ T q̇r , (14) 2kmin kp η
2 2 r
Consequently, the trajectories of the proposed teleoperation
where the term λkt T̄ q̇lT q̇l results from the summation of system are ultimately bounded.
λkt T̄l q̇lT q̇l in (13) and λkt T̄r q̇lT q̇l from the use of Lemma 2;
similarly for λkt T̄ q̇rT q̇r . Hence, V̇ (zt ) becomes Remark 2. For adaptive teleoperators with non-passive force,
the achievement of position coordination between the master
V̇ (zt ) ≤ −λ2 kt eTl el − λ2 kt eTr er − (ξr − Λ)q̇lT q̇l and slave robots is unable to ensure zero-force reflection.
−(ξl − Λ)q̇rT q̇r + r ρr /4 + l ρl /4. (15) Thus, the human operator has to exert a force to the master
Therefore, if ξr −Λ > 0 and ξl −Λ > 0, the coefficients of q̇iT q̇i robot even if limt→∞ e(t) = 0. To cope with this issue, most
are negative. By letting ξl − Λ > kl > 0, ξr − Λ > kr > 0 and of the adaptive teleoperators assumed perfect knowledge of
defining k := r ρr /4 + l ρl /4 > 0 and kp := λmin (P T P ) > dynamic parameters such that Θ̂i = Θi during non-passive
0, the derivative can be rewritten as external forces [3], [18], [20]. This limitation, which degrades
the transparency performance of teleoperation, is no longer
V̇ (zt ) ≤ −kmin kz̄k2 + k existent in the proposed robust bilateral teleoperation in this
s
k paper by Corollary 1.
≤ −kmin kp (1 − η)kzk2 , ∀kzk ≥ , (16)
kmin kp η
B. Bilateral Teleoperator with Disturbance and without
where 0 < η < 1 and kmin = min{kl , kr , λ2 kt } > 0. Since Relative Velocity
kmin , k , kp , and η are bounded away from zero, for large
values of kzk, V̇ (zt ) < 0, ∀z 6= 0 [3]. Hence, the trajectories Although the robust controller is proposed for bilateral
of the proposed robust teleoperation systems with variable time teleoperators to ensure stability and ultimate boundedness
delays are ultimately bounded. under dynamic uncertainties, the requirement of ėi in τi has to
be obtained from the time-derivative of ei . Numerical deriva-
Remark 1. The condition ξl ξr > Λ2 can be satisfied by tives might be too noisy to utilize in the control algorithms.
initially estimating the upper bound of the round-trip delays Moreover, the disturbance resulting from the network and
T̄ . Since the condition ξl ξr > Λ2 implies that λT̄ has to be unmodeled robot dynamics could be crucial to the performance
strictly less than one, the value λ can be selected accordingly. of bilateral teleoperation. Therefore, in this section, we study
Thus, the control gains kt and kd can be given from the value the robust teleoperation system with the consideration of
l
of Tdi . It is noted that the proposed robust teleoperator does disturbance in the absence of relative velocity.
not require exact knowledge of the variable time delays except In the presence of disturbance, the dynamic models of
for the upper bound of the round-trip delays. robotic manipulators are given as
The teleoperation system is studied in Theorem 1 under

Ml (ql )q̈l + Cl (ql , q̇l )q̇l + gl (ql ) = τl + τh + wl
passive external forces. By considering that the external forces (18)
Mr (qr )q̈r + Cr (qr , q̇r )q̇r + gr (qr ) = τr − τe + wr

1551-3203 (c) 2019 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TII.2019.2950617, IEEE
Transactions on Industrial Informatics
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS


where wl , wr ∈ Rn represent the accumulation of external −kt si −λMi ėi +Yi Θi0 −Θi +δΘi + wi −wi0 −δwi . (24)
bounded disturbance and disturbance resulting from the net-
work. It is considered that wi and its derivative are bounded. By utilizing Property 2 and e = −el , e = er , the above
To cope with disturbance without the relative velocity, the equation V̇ (x) becomes
X 
control input is given as V̇ (x) = − kt sTi si − λsTi Mi ėi + ke eTi ėi
τi = Ĉi (qi , q̇i )λei + ĝi (qi ) − kt si + ŵi i={l,r}


+sTi Yi Θi0 − Θi + δΘi + sTi wi − wi0 − δwi . (25)


= Yi (qi , q̇i , ei , 0)Θ̂i − kt si + ŵi , (19)
where ŵi is the estimate of unknown disturbance, and si From the designs of δΘi and δwi , the boundedness of the
is the sliding surface as defined in the previous section. It terms of unknown parameters

and disturbances can be given

is noted that the first term M̂i λėi and the last term kd ėi as sTi Yi Θi0 −Θi +δΘi ≤ i ρi /4 and sTi wi −wi0 −δwi ≤
in (19) have been removed so that the relative velocity is εi di /4. Additionally, by using si = −λei + q̇i for ėi , we get
not necessary in the controller. Due to the elimination of
ėl = q̇r − q̇l = (sr − λer ) − (sl − λel ),
M̂i λėi , the dependent term ėi in Yi from Property 1 is
zero; hence, Yi (qi , q̇i , ei , 0) = Ĉi (qi , q̇i )λei + ĝi (qi ). This ėr = q̇l − q̇r = (sl − λel ) − (sr − λer ). (26)
modification can relax the requirement of ėi in the control Thus, V̇ (x) is rewritten as
input. Additionally, we consider a delay-free case in this X  
section so that el (t) = −e(t) and er = e(t). V̇ (x) ≤ − kt sTi si + i ρi /4 + εi di /4
Hence, the closed-loop control systems of (18) with (19) is i={l,r}
 +eTl ke sr − eTl λke er − eTl ke sl + eTl λke el
 Ml ṡl + Cl rl + kt rl


= −λMl ėl + Yl (Θ̂l − Θl ) − (ŵl − wl ) + τh +eTr ke sl − eTr λke el − eTr ke sr + eTr λke er
(20)

 M r ṡr + Cr sr + kt rr −λsTl Ml sr + λsTl Ml sl + λ2 sTl Ml er − λ2 sTl Ml el
= −λMr ėr + Yr (Θ̂r − Θr ) − (ŵr − wr ) − τe .

−λsTr Mr sl + λsTr Mr sr + λ2 sTr Mr el − λ2 sTr Mr er . (27)
The estimation of unknown parameters is considered as Θ̂i = By utilizing el = −e, er = e again, V̇ (x) can be written as
Θi0 +δΘi , where δΘi is defined as in (6). For the estimation of X  
disturbance, it is assumed that there exist a bounded function V̇ (x) ≤ − kt sTi si + i ρi /4 + εi di /4 + λsTi Mi si
wi0 (t) and positive constant di such that kwi0 − wi k ≤ di . i={l,r}

−λsTl Ml + Mr sr − 4eT λke e + 2sTl ke e

Hence, we define
ŵi = wi0 + δwi , (21) −2sTr ke e + 2λ2 sTl Ml e − 2λ2 sTr Mr e
X
≤ −xT ∆x + (i ρi /4 + εi di /4), (28)
where δwi is an additional control that is defined as
( i={l,r}
di kssii k , if ksi k > εi where ∆ is a 3n × 3n matrix given as
δwi = di (22)
i si , if ksi k ≤ εi
λ(Ml + Mr )/2 −ke I3 − λ2 Ml
 
kt I3 − λMl
with a positive control gain εi . Therefore, we have the state ∆ = λ(Ml + Mr )/2 kt I3 − λMr ke I3 + λ2 Mr .
2 2
of the robust teleoperation as x = [sl , sr , e]T , and the results −ke I3 − λ Ml ke I3 + λ Mr 4λke
with disturbance and without relative velocity is studied in the From ∆, we can have that the matrix ∆ is negative definite
next theorem. for the range of f λ (kt , ke ) < λ < f¯λ (kt , ke ) with given
Theorem 2. Consider the nonlinear bilateral teleoperation kt , ke , ml , m̄l , mr , m̄r , where ml , m̄l , mr , m̄r are obtained
system described by (5), (6), (20), (21), (22) with passive from Property 3. As kt , ke , ml , m̄l , mr , m̄r are all bounded
force (4) and with the given nominal parameter vector away from zero, the minimum eigenvalue of ∆ exists and
Θi0 , bounded function wi0 and positive control parameters P positive. Hence, by defining kp := λmin (∆) and Γ =
is
i , ρi , di , εi . Then, the coordination errors and all solutions of i={l,r} (i ρi /4 + εi di /4), (28) can be written as
the robust teleoperation are uniformly ultimately bounded.
V̇ (x) ≤ −kp kxk2 + Γ
Proof. Consider a positive-definite Lyapunov function for the ≤ −kp (1 − η)kxk2 − kp ηkxk2 + Γ
robust teleoperation system as q
≤ −kp (1 − η)kxk2 ∀kxk ≥ Γkp−1 η −1 := βb . (29)
1 T 1
V (x) =s Ml sl + sTr Mr sr + eT ke e + Vpass , (23)
2 l 2 As kp is bounded away from zero, therefore V̇ (x) < 0,
where ke ∈ R is a positive constant. By taking the time- ∀kxk ≥ βb . From the Lyapunov function V (x) in (23)
derivative of V (x) along the trajectories of the closed-loop with Property 3, there exists K∞ functions α1 , α2 such that
control system (20), we get α1 (kxk) ≤ V (x) ≤ α2 (kxk). Therefore, we can obtain that
1 1 X  V (x) ≥ λmin {Ml /2, Mr /2, ke }kxk2 := kpmin kxk2 ,
V̇ (x) = sTl Ṁl sl + sTr Ṁr sr + 2ke eT ė + sTi − Ci si
2 2 V (x) ≥ λmax {Ml /2, Mr /2, ke }kxk2 := kpmax kxk2 , (30)
i={l,r}

1551-3203 (c) 2019 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TII.2019.2950617, IEEE
Transactions on Industrial Informatics
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS

Robust Bilateral Teleoperation without Relative Velocity

1 40
1st Joint (rad)

Local robot 20 0.45

0.5 Remote robot 30 h
0 15
e
20 0.4
-0.5
10
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
10

X-axis force (N)

Y-axis force (N)

5 0.35
2nd Joint (rad)

0.5
0
0 5 10 15 20
0 Time (sec)
0
-10
-5 0.55
-0.5
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 -20
-10
Tracking error (rad)

1 -30
1st Joint 0.5
0.5 -15
2nd Joint -40
0
-20
-50 0.45
-0.5
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
0 10 20 30 40 50 0 10 20 30 40 50
0 5 10 15 20
Time (sec) Time (sec) Time (sec) Time (sec)
(a) Joint angles and tracking errors (b) Human and environmental forces (c) Variable time delays

Fig. 2: Simulation of the proposed robust teleoperation with variable time delays without relative velocity.

where λmax (·) denotes the largest eigenvalue of the en- robust control can be guaranteed to be ultimately bounded.
closed matrix. Hence, the class K∞ function can be taken As opposed to the adaptive teleoperator, the boundedness of
as α1 (kxk) = kpmin kxk2 , and α2 (kxk) = kpmax kxk2 . Hence, robust teleoperator is adjustable by tuning the control constant
the ultimate bound ηb of the system is given as ρi and i accordingly. Therefore, the stability and performance
s
max β 2
s of such systems with input perturbation can be ensured with
  k p b Γkpmax bounded system solutions.
ηb = α1−1 α2 βb =


= . (31)
kpmin kp ηkpmin
Consequently, using Theorem 4.18 [15], the position coordi- IV. VALIDATION R ESULTS AND D ISCUSSION
nation errors and all solutions of the bilateral teleoperation A. Numerical Examples
system are uniformly ultimately bounded.
In this section, numerical simulations are presented to
In the robust controller, the exponential decay variables can validate the efficiency of the proposed robust teleoperation
be considered to ensure the convergence of the sliding vector systems with variable time delays, dynamic uncertainties, and
to zero. The additional controls in (6) for dynamic uncertain- disturbance. The local and remote robots are considered as 2-
ties and in (22) for disturbance are modified by replacing i DoF planar robotic manipulators whose dynamics are referred
and εi by exponential terms. By letting i = ai exp(−ci t) and to [33]. The physical parameters of the robotic manipulators
εi = aεi exp(−cεi t) with positive gains ai , ci , aεi , and cεi , Γ are given as Ml = [1.4, 1.0]kg, Il = [0.22, 0.24]kgm2 , Ll =
converges zero as time goes to infinity. Therefore, the state [0.6, 0.4]m, Mr = [1.8, 1.6]kg, Ir = [0.35, 0.33]kgm2 , Lr =
vector x = [sl , sr , e]T goes to the origin asymptotically. [0.8, 0.6]m, and g = 9.8m/s2 . Thus, the vector of the actual
dynamic parameters are Θl = [0.99, 0.12, 0.28, 1.02, 0.20]T
Corollary 2. Consider the nonlinear bilateral teleoperation
and Θr = [2.14, 0.38, 0.47, 2.0, 0.48]T . Additionally, both
system described by (5), (6), (20), (21), (22). If the dynamic
the local and remote robots are considered to be subject to
uncertainties and disturbance are estimated with the given
external disturbance resulting from unmodeled dynamics and
nominal parameter vector Θi0 for the bounded function wi0 ,
network uncertainties. The disturbances are given as wi (t) =
i = ai exp(−ci t), εi = aεi exp(−cεi t), and constants di , εi .
0.3 + 0.2 sin(2t) + 0.3 sin(20t) − 0.2 sin(10t) + 0.3 sin(21t).
Under passive external force, the coordination errors and all
In the simulations, the control gains are considered to be
solutions of the robust teleoperation converge to the origin
identical for both robots such that λ = 0.6, kt = 8, and
asymptotically.
kd = 0.5. The variable time delays are given as Tl (t) =
The next corollary addresses the robust teleoperation system 0.4 + 0.01 sin(18t) + 0.01 sin(16t) + 0.03 sin(13t)sec and
with disturbance under non-passive force. Tr (t) = 0.5 + 0.01 sin(17t) + 0.03 sin(12t)sec, as shown in
Fig. 2 (c). The delays have the properties that T̄l = 0.45s,
Corollary 3. Consider the nonlinear bilateral teleoperation l l
T̄r = 0.54s, Tdl = 0.66, and Tdr = 0.53. Thus, we have
system described by (5), (6), (20), (21), (22) and with the given
ξl = 4.835, ξr = 4.528, and Λ = 2.97, which satisfy the
nominal parameter vector Θi0 , bounded function wi0 and
conditions ξl > Λ and ξr > Λ for the proposed controller.
positive control parameters i , ρi , di , εi . If the external forces
In the robust teleoperator, the fixed nominal parameters are
are bounded, then the coordination errors and all solutions of
chosen equal as Θl0 = [0.56, 0.23, 0.19, 0.97, 0.18]T ,
the robust teleoperation are uniformly ultimately bounded.
Θr0 = [1.63, 0.42, 0.44, 1.95, 0.5]T , and for the distur-
Remark 3. Corollary 3 demonstrates that the proposed robust bance we selected wi0 (t) = 0.2 + 0.3 sin(15t). The robust
control algorithm can deal with variable time delays, dynamic control gains are given as ρl = 0.8, l = 3, ρr = 0.8,
uncertainties, and non-passive external force simultaneously. r = 1, di = 1.2, and εi = 0.5, where ρi and di are
The trajectories of the teleoperation system with the use of the chosen such that kΘi0 − Θi k ≥ ρi and kwi0 − wi k ≤ di .

1551-3203 (c) 2019 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TII.2019.2950617, IEEE
Transactions on Industrial Informatics
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS

Personal Computer Joint-Space Position in Robust Teleoperation

Local site Remote site
0.5 Remote robot

1 st Joint (rad)
Robust Variable Robust Local robot
PHANToM Omni PHANToM Omni
Controller Time Delay Controller 0

-0.5

0 20 40 60 80 100

1
IEEE-1394 IEEE-1394

2 nd Joint (rad)
Interface Interface
0.5

0 20 40 60 80 100
PC Board type
Vector Sensor Transmitter 0.5
FSR Sensor

3 rd Joint (rad)
MX020 CSA-524
instruNet i555 Arduino Uno 0

Fig. 3: Experimental setup of the bilateral teleoperator. -0.5

0 20 40 60 80 100
Time(sec)
(a) Joint angles of local and remote robots
The bilateral teleoperators are implemented with the initial
conditions ql (0) = [0.5, 0.6]T rad, qr (0) = [0.2, − 0.3]T rad,
and q̇i (0) = q̈i (0) = 0 rad/s. The simulation results for the
robust teleoperation are illustrated in Fig. 2.
In the simulation, the teleoperation is in free-motion for
t = 0 ∼ 10sec such that the human operator applies no force
on the master robot and both robots converge to each other
with the proposed controller. After t = 10sec, the human
operator is considered to exert a spring-damper force [16],
[18] to manipulate the local robot between different set-points
with the spring and damping gains are selected as 50Nm/rad
and 2Nms/rad. For t = 10 ∼ 30sec, the master robot is
commanded to a configuration where the x-direction of the (b) Trajectories of local and remote robots
slave robot contacts a wall in the remote environment. During
60
hard contact, both τh and τe are not zero, so the tracking errors X-axis
Task-space Error (mm)

40 Y-axis
are relatively large due to force reflection from the slave robot Z-axis
20
to the human operator. The external forces are illustrated in
Fig. 2 (b) where the environmental force and reflected force are 0

shown. After t = 30sec, the human commands the master to -20

another configuration where the slave robot moves away from -40
0 20 40 60 80 100
the wall; therefore, the position coordination is achieved for 0.4
Joint-space Error (rad)

teleoperation. The simulation, Fig. 2, shows that the proposed 1st Joint
2nd Joint
system is stable and able to reach the desired configuration 0.2
3rd Joint

commanded by the human operator, where the tracking errors 0

and velocities are ultimately bounded. Moreover, the bound-
edness of the trajectories of the robust control system can be -0.2

adjusted by selecting different control parameter i and ρi to 0 20 40 60

Time(sec)
80 100

provide better performance. (c) Task-space and joint-space tracking errors

Fig. 4: Position and tracking errors of the proposed teleoper-

B. Experiments ation system in experiment.

To show the efficacy and performance of the proposed

robust teleoperator in practice, the bilateral teleoperation is im-
plemented via experiments by using two robotic manipulator,
called PHANToM Omni. PHANToM Omni is a haptic device
with six revolute joints, where 6-DoF position sensing and
3-DoF actuation capabilities. As the robotic system studied
in this paper is fully-actuated, the three unactuated joints
are constrains. The dynamic model of PHANToM Omni is
adopted from [19]. In the experiment, two force sensors are
mounted on the end-effector of the haptic devices to measure
the human and environment force. The control program is
accomplished in C++, where the Open-Haptic API is utilized
to acquire joint position/velocity and apply control torque
under the scamping rate of 1kHz.
The experimental setup is illustrated in Fig. 3. Both the
robots are connected to a personal computer (PC) via IEEE-
1394 interface, and all the control algorithms are implemented
in the same computer. Moreover, there is a 3-DoF force sensor
mounted on the end-effector of the master robot to acquire
the force applied by the human operator. The force signal are
acquired by instruNet i555 and stored in the PC. For the slave
robot, there is a wall placed in the remote environment that

1551-3203 (c) 2019 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TII.2019.2950617, IEEE
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS
is attached with an FSR sensor to measure the contact force,
acquired by Arduino Uno. The measured forces are utilized to
see the exerted force and force reflection from the slave robot
to the human operator.
The experiments is conducted under the variable time
delays Tl (t) = Tr (t) = 0.55 + 0.2 sin(t)sec with the con-
trol gains kt = diag{60, 60, 60}, kd = diag{20, 20, 10},
ρl = ρr = 1, λl = λr = 20, l = r = 3, Θi0 =
[0.1, 0.05, 0.2, 0.4, 0.4, 0.1, 140, 85]T . In the experiment, the
human operator applied a force moving the local robot from
one configuration to another, and the remote robot is controlled
to track the position of the local robot by using the proposed
robust controller. The joint-space and task-space trajectories
and errors are shown in Fig. 4. During the operation, the
remote robot is teleoperated to contact an object in the
environment at y-axis position smaller than 50mm. The hard
contact occurs after t = 40sec, and in the duration the tracking
errors is relatively large with reflection of force. The external
force measured by the force sensors are shown in Fig. 5. It
can be observed that the human operator feels applied force
during hard contact. Moreover, the human force converges to
around zero when limt→∞ e(t) = 0, and is higher when the
local robot is manipulated to change configurations.
2 World Congress, pages 326–331, Aug.-Sep. 2011.
1.5
1 Haptics, 6(2):229–241, 2013.
Human Force (N)
0.5
0
-0.5
-1
-1.5
0 20 40 60
1.5
Env. Force (N)
1
0.5
0
0 20 40 60
Time(sec)
Fig. 5: External force from the experiment.
V. C ONCLUSIONS
This paper investigates the issue of controlling a tele-
operation system with dynamic uncertainties, variable time
delays, and without relative velocity by utilizing robust control
algorithm. With the design of sliding variable, we showed
that the robust teleoperator with variable time delays is stable
with guaranteed tracking performance when the control gains
satisfy the sufficient condition depending on bounds of time
delays. By taking into account the unknown disturbances,
another robust controller is presented to ensure stability and
boundedness of all solutions for teleoperation system under
dynamic uncertainties. The case without relative velocity and
disturbances is also addressed in this paper. Simulations and
experiments were implemented with the measurement of exter-
nal forces to show the performance and efficiency of the robust
teleoperation systems under variable time delays and dynamic
uncertainties. Future work on this topic encompasses studying
1551-3203 (c) 2019 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
Transactions on Industrial Informatics
transparency for teleoperators with a more general external
force model and the the issue of various contact surfaces in
the remote environment.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to thank the associate editor and
the anonymous reviewers for their valuable and constructive
suggestions that led to significant improvements of this paper.
R EFERENCES
[1] R. J. Anderson and M. W. Spong. Bilateral control of teleoperators with
time delay. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 34(5):494–501,
May 1989.
[2] P. Arcara and C. Melchiorri. Control schemes for teleoperation with
time delay: A comparative study. Robotics and Autonomous Systems,
38(1):49–64, Jan. 2002.
[3] N. Chopra, M. W. Spong, and R. Lozano. Synchronization of bilateral
teleoperators with time delay. Automatica, 44(8):2142–2148, Aug. 2008.
[4] N. Chopra, M. W. Spong, R. Ortega, and N. E. Barabanov. On tracking
performance in bilateral teleoperation. IEEE Transactions on Robotics,
22(4):861–866, Aug. 2006.
[5] L. G. Garcia-Valdovinos, H. Santacruz-Reyes, A. G. Lopez-Segovia,
M. Bandala-Sanchez, and L. A. Garcia-Zarco. Passive impedance-
based second-order sliding mode control for non-linear teleoperators.
International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems, 14(1):1–12, Feb.
2017.
[6] N. Gonzalez, J. de Leon, C. Guerra, and V. Parra. A sliding mode-based
impedance control for bilateral teleoperation under time delay. In IFAC
X-axis
Y-axis [7] A. Haddadi and K. Hashtrudi-Zaad. Robust stability of teleoperation
Z-axis
systems with time delay: A new approach. IEEE Transactions on
[8] J. K. Hale and S. M. V. Lunel. Introduction to Functional Differential
Equations. Springer-Verlag, New York, 1993.
[9] F. Hashemzadeh, I. Hassanzadeh, M. Tavakoli, and G. Aliadeh. Adaptive
control for state synchronization of nonlinear haptic telerobotic systems
with asymmetric varying time delays. Journal of Intelligent and Robotic
Systems, 68(3-4):245–259, Dec. 2012.
[10] P. F. Hokayem and M. W. Spong. Bilateral teleoperation: An historical
80 100
survey. Automatica, 42(12):2035–2057, Dec. 2006.
[11] C.C. Hua and X.P. Liu. Delay-dependent stability criteria of teleopera-
Y-axis
tion systems with asymmetric time-varying delays. IEEE Transactions
on Robotics, 26(5):925–932, Oct. 2010.
[12] K. Huang and D. Lee. Hybrid virtual-proxy based control framework
80 100 for passive bilateral teleoperation over the internet. In IEEE/RSJ
International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pages 149–
156, Sep. 2011.
[13] S. Islam, P. X. Liu, and A. E. Saddik. Nonlinear adaptive control for
teleoperation systems with symmetrical and unsymmetrical time-varying
delay. International Journal of Systems Science, 46(16):2928–2938,
2015.
[14] A. Jafari and J.-H. Ryu. Transparency improved sliding-mode control
design for bilateral teleoperation systems by using virtual manipulator
concept. In IFAC Symposium on Telematics Applications, pages 21–26,
Nov. 2013.
[15] H. K. Khalil. Nonlinear Systems. Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 2002.
[16] D. Lee and M. W. Spong. Passive bilateral teleoperation with constant
time delay. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 22(2):269–281, Apr. 2006.
[17] M. Li and Y. Chen. Robust adaptive sliding mode control for switched
networked control systems with disturbance and faults. IEEE Transac-
tions on Industrial Informatics, 15(1):193–204, Jan. 2019.
[18] Y.-C. Liu and N. Chopra. Control of semi-autonomous teleoperation
system with time delays. Automatica, 49(6):1553–1565, Jun. 2013.
[19] Y.-C. Liu and M.-H. Khong. Adaptive control for nonlinear teleoperators
with uncertain kinematics and dynamics. IEEE/ASME Transactions on
Mechatronics, 20(5):2550–2562, Oct. 2015.
[20] Y.-C. Liu and S.-M. Puah. Adaptive control for bilateral teleoperators
under time-varying communication delays. In International Conference
on Advanced Robotics and Intelligent Systems, pages 32–37, May 2013.
[21] R. Lozano, N. Chopra, and M. W. Spong. Passivation of force reflecting
bilateral teleoperation with time varying delay. Mechatronics ’02, 2002.
[22] G. Niemeyer and J.J.-E. Slotine. Stable adaptive teleoperation. IEEE
Journal of Oceanic Engineering, 16(1):152–162, Jan. 1991.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TII.2019.2950617, IEEE
Transactions on Industrial Informatics
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS

[23] E. Nuño, R. Ortega, and L. Basañez. An adaptive controller for nonlinear Phoung Nam Dao received the Ph.D. degree in
teleoperators. Automatica, 46(1):155–159, Jan. 2010. Electrical Engineering from Hanoi University of
[24] J. H. Park and H. C. Cho. Sliding-mode controller for bilateral teleoperat Science and Technology (HUST), Hanoi, Viet-
ion with varying time delay. In IEEE/ASME International Conference nam in 2013. Currently, he holds the position
on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics, pages 311–316, Sep. 1999. as lecturer at Hanoi University of Science and
[25] Y. Park, J. Lee, and J. Bae. Development of a wearable sensing glove for Technology, Vietnam.
measuring the motion of fingers using linear potentiometers and flexible His research interests include control of
wires. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 11(1):198–206, Feb. robotic systems and robust/adaptive, optimal
2015. control.
[26] P. Pitakwatchara. Wave correction scheme for task space control of time-
varying delayed teleoperation systems. IEEE Transactions on Control
Systems Technology, 26(6):2223–2231, Nov. 2018.
[27] J. P. Richard. Time-delay systems: an overview of some recent advances
and open problems. Automatica, 39(10):1667–1694, Oct. 2003.
[28] E. J. Rodriguez-Seda, D. Lee, and M. W. Spong. Experimental
comparison study of control architectures for bilateral teleoperators.
IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 25(6):1304–1318, Dec. 2009.
[29] J.-H. Ryu and D.-S. Kwon. A novel adaptive bilateral control scheme
using simular closed-loop dynamic characteristics of master/slave ma-
nipulators. Journal of Robotic Systems, 18(9):533–543, Sep. 2001.
[30] I. Sarras, E. Nuño, and L. Basañez. An adaptive controller for nonlinear
teleoperators with variable time-delays. Journal of the Franklin Institute,
351(19):4817–4837, 2014.
[31] A. Shahdi and S. Sirouspour. Adaptive/robust control for time-delay
teleoperation. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 25(1):196–205, Feb.
2008.
[32] P. Singh, H. Karki, A. Shukla, N. K. Verma, and L. Behera. Vision-
based guidance and switching-based sliding mode controller for a mobile
robot in the cyber physical framework. IEEE Transactions on Industrial
Informatics, 15(4):1985–1997, Apr. 2019.
[33] M. W. Spong, S. Hutchinson, and M. Vidyasagar. Robot Modeling and
Control. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 2006.
[34] M. W. Spong, R. Ortega, and R. Kelly. Comments on ‘Adaptive
manipulator control: a case study’ by J. Slotine and W. Li. IEEE
Transactions on Automatic Control, 35(6):761–762, Jun. 1990.
[35] E. Tatlicioglu. Adaptive control of non-linear teleoperator systems in
the presence of additive input and output disturbances. International
Journal of Robotics and Automation, 25(1):17–25, Mar. 2010.
[36] H. Wang and Y. Xie. Task-space framework for bilateral teleoperation
with time delays. ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement,
and Control, 134(5):2129–2140, Sep. 2012. Kai Yong Zhao received the B.S. degree in
[37] Y. Yuan, Y. Wang, and L. Guo. Force reflecting control for bilateral mechancial engineering from Tatung University,
teleoperation system under time-varying delays. IEEE Transactions on Taipei, Taiwan in 2017. He is currently work-
Industrial Informatics, 15(2):1162–1172, Feb. 2019. ing toward the master degree in mechanical
[38] D.-H. Zhai and Y. Xia. Robust saturation-based control of bilateral engineering at National Cheng Kung University
teleoperation withoutvelocity measurements. International Journal of (NCKU), Tainan, Taiwan.
Robust and Nonlinear Control, 25(15):2582–2607, 2015. His research interests include impedance con-
[39] D.-H. Zhai and Y. Xia. Adaptive stabilization of nonlinear teleoperation trol of bilateral teleoepration systems, and adap-
systems: An siios approach. International Journal of Robust and tive model-mediated teleoperation.
Nonlinear Control, 26(17):3696–3722, 2016.

Yen-Chen Liu (M’ 12-SM’ 19) received the B.S.

and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering
from National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu,
Taiwan, in 2003 and 2005, respectively, and the
Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from
the University of Maryland, College Park, MD,
USA, in 2012.
He is currently an Associate Professor with
the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Na-
tional Cheng Kung University (NCKU), Tainan,
Taiwan. His research interests include control of
networked robotic systems, bilateral teleoperation, multi-robot systems,
mobile robot network, and human–robot interaction.
Dr. Liu was the recipient of the Ta-You Wu Memorial Award, Ministry
of Science and Technology (MOST), Taiwan, 2016, Kwoh-Ting Li Re-
searcher Award, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan, 2018, and
Young Scholar Fellowship - Columbus Program, MOST, Taiwan, 2019.

1551-3203 (c) 2019 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.