A Passivity-Based Bilateral Teleoperation Architecture using Distributed Nonlinear Model Predictive Control

Bilateral teleoperation systems allow the telepresence of an operator while working remotely. Such ability becomes crucial when dealing with critical environments like space, nuclear plants, rescue, and surgery. The main properties of a teleoperation system are the stability and the transparency which, in general, are in contrast and they cannot be fully achieved at the same time. In this paper, we will present a novel model predictive controller that implements a passivity-based bilateral teleoperation algorithm. Our solution mitigatesthe chattering issue arising when resorting to the energy tank(or reservoir) mechanism by forcing the passivity as a hard constraint on the system evolution.