Stability analysis of a human-in-the-loop telerobotics system with two independent time-delays

In this paper, stability of a human-in-the-loop telerobotics system with force feedback and communication delays is investigated. A general linear time-invariant time-delayed mathematical model of the human operator is incorporated into the system dynamics based on the interaction of the human operator with the rest of the telerobotic system. The resulting closed loop dynamics contains two independent time-delays mainly due to back and forth communication delay and human reaction time delay. Stability of this dynamics is characterized next on the plane of the two delays by rigorous mathematical investigation using Cluster Treatment of Characteristic Roots (CTCR). An illustrative numerical example is further provided in the results section along with interpretations.