Event-triggered aperiodic intermittent sliding-mode control for master–slave bilateral teleoperation robotic systems

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a novel event-triggered aperiodic intermittent sliding-mode control (ETAI-SMC) algorithm for master–slave bilateral teleoperation robotic systems to further save communication resources while maintaining synchronization precision. Design/methodology/approach By using the Lyapunov theory, a new event-triggered aperiodic intermittent sliding-mode controller is designed to synchronize master–slave robots in a discontinuous method. Unlike traditional periodic time-triggered continuous control strategy, a new ETAI condition is discussed for less communication pressure. Then, the exponential reaching law is adopted to accelerate sliding-mode variables convergence, which has a significant effect on synchronization performance. In addition, the authors use quantizers to make their algorithm have obvious progress in saving communication resources. Findings The proposed control algorithm performance is validated by an experiment developed on a practical bilateral teleoperation system with two PHANToM Omni robotic devices. As a result, the synchronization error is limited within a small range and the control frequency is evidently reduced. Compared with a conventional control algorithm, the experimental results illustrate that the proposed control algorithm is more sensitive to system states changes and it can further save communication resources while guaranteeing the system synchronization accuracy, which is more practical for real bilateral teleoperation robotic systems. Originality/value A novel ETAI-SMC for bilateral teleoperation robotic systems is proposed to find a balance between reducing the control frequency and synchronization control precision. Combining the traditional sliding-mode control algorithm with the periodic intermittent control strategy and the event-triggered control strategy has produced obvious effect on our control performance. The proposed ETAI-SMC algorithm helps the controller be more sensitive to system states changes, which makes it possible to achieve precise control with lower control frequency. Moreover, we design an environment contact force feedback algorithm for operators to improve the perception of the slave robot working environment. In addition, quantizers and the exponential convergence law are adopted to help the proposed algorithm perform better in saving communication resources and improving synchronization precision.