Despite the great diversity of teleoperator designs and applications, their underlying control systems have many similarities. These similarities can be exploited to enable inter-operability between heterogeneous systems. We have developed a network data specification, the Interoperable Telerobotics Protocol, that can be used for Internet based control of a wide range of teleoperators.In this work we test interoperable telerobotics on the global Internet, focusing on the telesurgery application domain. Fourteen globally dispersed telerobotic master and slave systems were connected in thirty trials in one twenty four hour period. Users performed common manipulation tasks to demonstrate effective master-slave operation. With twenty eight (93%) successful, unique connections the results show a high potential for standardizing telerobotic operation. Furthermore, new paradigms for telesurgical operation and training are presented, including a networked surgery trainer and upper-limb exoskeleton control of micro-manipulators.

Abstract-While humans can manipulate deformable objects smoothly and naturally, this is still a challenge for autonomous robots due to the complex object dynamics. The presence of rigid environment constraints and altering contact phases between the deformable object, the manipulator, and the environment makes this problem even more challenging. This paper presents a framework for deformable object manipulation that makes use of a single human demonstration of the task. The recorded trajectories are automatically segmented into a sequence of haptic control primitives involving contact with the rigid environment and vision-guided grasp primitives. The recorded motion/force trajectories serve as reference for a compliant control scheme in contact situations. In order to cope with positioning uncertainties a variable admittance control is proposed. The proposed approach is validated in an experimental mounting task for a deformable linear object with multiple re-grasping. The task is demonstrated with a multimodal teleoperation system and transfered to a robotic platform with a pair of seven degrees of freedom manipulators.

The influence of ankle compliance on bipedal robot locomotion is investigated in this paper. The focus is on reduction of energy consumption. The concept of hybrid zero dynamics is adapted to design walking gaits with three phases: underactuated heel roll, full actuation and underactuated toe roll. Ankle springs work in parallel with the ankle actuators. Stiffness and offset of the linear torsional springs at the ankle and gait parameters are optimized simultaneously. It is shown that simultaneous optimization of spring properties and gait is superior to optimizing the spring after the gait. Optimal spring stiffness and offset lead to a major reduction in energy consumption. Furthermore, a more human-like gait is observed for simultaneous optimization of gait and spring parameters compared to gait optimization with zero stiffness.

International audience— This paper is the continuation of our previous work in intercontinental, collaborative teleoperation with a humanoid robot. Our new achievement consists in an extension of the former single-arm bilateral teleoperation setting to include bimanual manipulation and walking. A coupling scheme for simultaneous manipulation and locomotion is developed. Furthermore, a task-based control framework, including a force-based control for the arms as well as a walking pattern generation, is presented to realize stable whole-body motions of the highly redundant humanoid robot. Experiments have been performed to assess the proposed control scheme. They bring to light additional scientific challenges that remain in order to reach a smooth and natural telepresent collaboration

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