A telerobotic system enabling online switching among various architectures and controllers

With the increasing complexity of teleoperation tasks, various teleoperation architectures, including the Single-Leader/Single-Follower (SLSF), Multiple-Leader/Multiple-Follower (MLMF), Single-Leader/Multiple-Follower (SLMF), and Multiple-Leader/Single-Follower (MLSF) systems, are emerging. Although numerous works have focused on the control strategies or a specific architecture, the study on online switching among different architectures is not equally prolific. However, the online switching among different architectures/controllers is required in a wide spectrum of robotic applications to perform complex tasks. This feature can also promote the development of shared autonomy robotic systems, including the seamless adaption of the autonomy level, the better co-adaption between human and robot, and so on. Here a generic, flexible, and expandable telerobotic system is developed. Instead of focusing on the control strategy of a specific architecture, the physical topology, the software design, and the switching strategy during transitions are all considered to enable the online switching among various architectures and/or controllers. The experimental results of several scenarios validate the main features of the proposed system and demonstrate the benefits of these features.