Intelligent Teleoperation: combining simulation and teleoperation

In this paper we summarize some of our research efforts in the area of high performance simulation to support advanced teleoperation. Simulation of rigid bodies has always been used in conjunction of teleoperation system, however simulation of deformable bodies is not available yet, since it presents a new set of challenges. In particular, we address the problems related to object modeling to achieve force feedback, and the computation infrastructure necessary to carry out the force computation at real time frequency. We describe the results achieved by combining mesh-based models with GPU-based computation. The result is a very realistic and performing simulator that combines rigid and deformable objects into a single computational framework. Furthermore, planning in a deformable environment must account for the dynamic properties of the object together with classical algorithms. The simulator and planner are embedded into our CORBA-based teleoperation system that allows an easily integration of different hardware and software functions. Examples showing the capabilities and performance of the complete system are given for the context of robot-assisted surgery, which presents a number of similarities to robots for space applications.