Cooperative control of virtual objects over the internet using haptic teleoperation

The feasibility of performing remote assessment and therapy of patients over the internet using robotic devices is explored. Using a force feedback device, the therapist can assess the range of motion, flexibility, strength, and spasticity of the patient's arm grasping a similar robotic device at a remote location. In addition, cooperative rehabilitation strategies can be developed whereby both the patient and therapist perform tasks in a shared virtual environment To counter the destabilizing effects of time delay in the force feedback loop, a passive wave variable architecture is used to encode velocity and force information. The control scheme is validated experimentally over the internet using a pair of InMotion2 robots located several hundred miles apart.