Stability, Performance, and Implementation Issues in Bilateral Teleoperation Control and Haptic Simulation Systems by Amir Haddadi A thesis submitted to the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada December 2011 Copyright c Amir Haddadi, 2011 Abstract Master-Slave teleoperation systems are designed to extend a human’s manipulation capability to remote tasks. Recent applications of these systems are in robotic therapy, telesurgery, and medical simulators. In practice, due to the uncertainties in the operator and environment dynamics, and time delay, stability and performance are compromised. Stability-based and performance-based controllers are introduced for these systems. A major class of the former controllers are based on the passivity theory and su?er from the assumed unbounded range of dynamics which is rather unrealistic. The latter class of controllers are mostly adaptive methods that are based on performance optimization. The theme of this thesis is on the development of new stability analysis methods, control strategies, and implementation techniques for enhanced trade-o? between stability and performance. I have developed a less conservative passivity-based robust stability method and introduced, for the ?rst time, the notion of Bounded Impedance Absolute Stability. The method provides mathematical and visual aids to incorporate bounds of the passive environment impedance for less conservative guaranteed stability conditions, promising a better compromise between stability and performance. I have extended the new method to include the dynamic range of the human operator for increased stability margins. I have also used the new method to develop i a bilateral controller robust to time delays. Furthermore, I have investigated the e?ect of sampling position versus velocity for various sampling models to obtain less conservative coupled stability conditions for haptic simulation systems. Estimates of the environment dynamics are required to include their variations. Therefore, I have proposed two new real-time parameter estimation methods for linear and nonlinear contacts and experimentally evaluated and compared them with the available techniques. Finally, I have introduced needle insertion as a task in telerobotic systems to combine the expertise of the surgeon with robotic control. Here, the very ?rst few steps needed to e?ectively control the targeting needles have been taken. I have developed a mechanics-based dynamic model for bevel-tip ?exible needles inserted into soft tissues. Finite element models are used to estimate soft tissue deformation, while the mechanics-based model is used to predict needle de?ections due to bevel-tip asymmetry. ii Acknowledgments “Dedicated to my wonderful parents for their unconditional love and unending encouragement and support in my entire life, which I cannot express in words.” I acknowledge the support of my supervisor, Dr. Keyvan Hashtrudi-Zaad, for his enthusiasm and encouragement. This thesis would not have been possible without his guidance and support during the course of my PhD. I would like to thank Dr. Tim Salcudean and Dr. Orcun Goksel for their guidance and willingness to take time to discuss my research during my visit to UBC. Special thanks to Dr. Purang Abolmaesumi for his kind support and overall friendliness. I would also like to thank my colleagues at the Robotics and Computer Vision Laboratory at Queen’s, Kamran Razi for his valuable technical discussions, Katie Mountjoy and Corina Leung for proofreading my papers, and Javad Hashemi, Behzad Khademian, and Colin Sutherland for being supportive. It was a pleasure working with you all. Special thanks to all my dear friends in Kingston, especially Payam Aghsaee and Siavash Fazeli Dehkordy, who made my student life memorable and joyful. I will never forget them and all those wonderful memories. Finally and most importantly, I would like to thank my lovely parents, my great iii brother, and my sisters for supporting me during my studies. Mom and Dad, you are wonderful parents and amazing friends. It was your encouragement, unconditional love, inspiration, and understanding that guided me through my academic career and to the completion of my thesis.