Sliding mode control of a pneumatic haptic teleoperation system with on/off solenoid valves

This paper presents a novel bilateral control scheme for pneumatic teleoperation systems that are actuated by low cost solenoid valves. A sliding mode control is incorporated into a two-channel, bilateral teleoperation architecture involving position-position, force-force, or force-position schemes. An analysis of stability and transparency of the closed-loop teleoperation system is carried out. The proposed control design is verified on a single-degree-of-freedom pneumatic teleoperation system with four on/off solenoid valves. Moreover, simulation results demonstrate high accuracies in terms of position and force tracking in the teleoperation system.