This paper presents a real-time output estimation method in a remote environment with time-varying communication delay. The remote environment is assumed as a virtual environment. The properties of a virtual object such as stiffness and viscosity are ...
This paper presents a real-time output estimation method in a remote environment with time-varying communication delay. The remote environment is assumed as a virtual environment. The properties of a virtual object such as stiffness and viscosity are assumed to be unknown because they are changed according to the contact position and/or a penetrated depth into the object. The DARMAX model based output estimator is proposed to trace the correct impedance of the virtual object in a remote environment. It can trace the varying impedance in real-time by virtue of P-matrix resetting algorithm. And the estimator can trace the correct impedance by using a white noise that prevents the biased input-output information. Outputs are estimated in real-time, by using the inputs and the estimated impedance, even though the communication time delay and the impedance of the virtual object are unknown and changed. The estimate output traces the analytical output computed from the virtual model of the remote environment. Performance is demonstrated by experiments with a 1-dof haptic device and a spring-damper-based virtual model.