Remote low frequency state feedback kinematic motion control for mobile robot trajectory tracking

Teleoperated robots generally receive high level commands from a remote system, while accomplishing motion control through conventional means. We present a teleoperated system that removes the entire motion control structure from the robot, in order to preserve the availability of crucial on-board resources. The operation of state feedback control is performed by a system remote from the robot. We have designed a computerized motion planning and control system for Mobile Emulab, and in this article, discuss the implementation of trajectory tracking control. A component of the Emulab network testbed, Mobile Emulab is used for wireless network experiments requiring mobility; and is publicly available to remote researchers via the Internet. Medium scale wheeled mobile robot couriers are used to move wireless antennas within a semi-controlled environment. Experimenters use a web-based GUI to specify desired paths and configurations for multiple robots. State feedback is provided by an overhead camera based visual localization system. Kinematic control is used to generate velocity commands, which are sent to robots over a computer network. Data availability is restricted to a low sampling frequency. There is significant noise, loss, and phase lag present in the robot localization data, which our research overcomes to provide an autonomous trajectory tracking mobile robot control system.