Predictive and knowledge-based telerobotic control concepts

The problems that arise when sensor-controlled robots in space are teleoperated from ground stations are discussed. A supervisory control concept is described that makes it possible to realize shared control between teleoperator and sensor-controlled robot in a variety of configurations. Predictive 3D computer graphics currently seems to be the only way to cope successfully with the problem of transmission-time delays of several seconds. Appropriate estimation schemes in combination with knowledge-based world modeling are outlined, which include models of the delay lines, the robot, moving objects, etc., and which derive the necessary updates from sensory data as they are sent down from the spacecraft to earth (e.g. via real-time stereo vision). The space robot technology experiment Rotex scheduled for the next German Spacelab mission (2D) is taken as a basis for the problem description.>