Session: 01-01-03 Offshore Platforms-3

Submission Number: 182279

Implementation and Experimental Analysis of Impedance Control Strategies for Haptic Teleoperation in Oil and Gas Environments 

In high-risk environments such as offshore platforms, refineries, and processing units in the oil and gas industry, teleoperated systems enable the manipulation of critical components without exposing operators to hazardous conditions. To provide a more intuitive and realistic interaction, haptic interfaces allow users to perceive forces, resistances, and other tactile feedback during remote operation.

This paper presents the implementation of an impedance control scheme on a custom-built, three-degree-of-freedom interactive robotic manipulator, adapted as a haptic interface for real-time control of mobile robotic platforms operating and interacting physically in hazardous environments in oil and gas industries. In this application, since human-robot interaction occurs directly at the manipulator's end-effector, both nonlinear feedforward dynamic compensation and impedance control ideally should be implemented in the operational space to ensure that the operator experiences accurate and stable haptic feedback.

However, due to the manipulator's geometry, singular configurations can be easily reached, causing torque spikes that degrade immersion and may lead to unsafe unintended contacts. While several techniques exist to mitigate such effects, for the proposed system, applying dynamic compensation in joint space proves sufficient, as the desired acceleration is zero, so the apparent inertia will be irrelevant both at the end-effector and at the joints.

Preliminary simulation results compare both control strategies and demonstrate stable and responsive multi-joint behavior, accurately reproducing the dynamic characteristics of a spring-damper model. These findings highlight the potential of the proposed system to enable immersive, precise, and safe human-robot interaction for inspection, maintenance, and remote operation tasks in the oil and gas industry.

Presenting Author: Glauco Caurin OTIC - Offshore Technology Innovation Centre

Presenting Author Biography: Member of the Center of Robotics -University of São Paulo CROB - http://www2.eesc.usp.br/crob/
Member of the Robotics and Automation Society - RAS IEEE and Senior Member IEEE
Proposal, planning and implementation of the undergraduate course in Mechatronics Engineering at USP in 2002
Proposal, planning and implementation of Graduate Course in Aeronautical Systems - EESC - USP in 2019

Authors:

Pedro Hodge OTIC - Offshore Technology Innovation Centre
Glauco Caurin OTIC - Offshore Technology Innovation Centre
Alessandra Harrison Shell do Brasil S/A Petróleo
Thiago Martins OTIC - Offshore Technology Innovation Centre