Analysis and Design of Standard Telerobotic Control Software

The Robotics and Automation Center for Excellence (RACE) has defined an open telerobotics control architecture. This architecture, called the Unified Telerobotic Architecture Project (UTAP), is a proposed standard for all Air Force telerobotic systems. Implementation of UTAP will reduce the cost of robotic applications by increasing software modularity, portability, and reusability. This thesis continued the effort to prove the feasibility of UTAP. In December, 1995, 1st Lt Anchor implemented a portion of the UTAP specification on a PUMA robot. The UTAP-compliant controller exhibited some degradation in the system performance. However, the performance degradation was not fully measured. This thesis extended the measurements of Anchor's implementation. Additionally, a portion of the UTAP specification was implemented on an Adept 550 manipulator and the performance effects were measured. The implementation included portions of the generic, robot/axis servo control, tool control, sensor control, programmable 10, subsystem task level control, task description and supervision, parent task program sequencer, task program sequencer, and object knowledge modules. Performance measurements of this implementation indicated that, although performance was adversely affected, the degradation was caused by the interface between the UTAP-compliant application and the non-UTAP-compliant operating system. There was little difference between the complaint and non- compliant applications. Successful implementation of the UTAP specification on the PUMA and Adept manipulators proves that it is a feasible telerobotic architecture. Further study of the specification is recommended. Specifically, the development of a UTAP-compliant operating system should be continued.Air Force Inst of Tech Wright-Patterson AFB OH School of Engineering is the author of 'Analysis and Design of Standard Telerobotic Control Software', published 1996 under ISBN 9781423575146 and ISBN 1423575148.