Technology Supervisory Control for Mechatronic Devices via the Internet

This paper presents the results of research on the development of technology for supervisory control of mechatronic devices through the Internet. We propose a hierarchical structure for the management of a group of mobile robots (a group of mechatronic devices) by combining their information-measuring and control systems into a local area network. The main requirements to the functional structure of these systems are formulated. The development of a spatially distributed control system involves a number of problems associated with peculiarities of the use of digital radio and Internet channels. These problems can be treated by creating specialized software and hardware tools, such as the spatially distributed scientific and educational Internet-laboratory proposed in this paper. The laboratory can be used to organize full-fledged access to specific mechatronic systems of different models and different producers through the Internet. The main requirements for the implementation of this laboratory are formulated through the use of the “concept of drivers”. The architecture and technical implementation of the pilot project of this laboratory are described. The driver concept designed for incorporating the mechatronic devices into the structure of the laboratory is demonstrated by the example of the AMUR and Festo Robotino robots.The work was supported by the Russian Academy of Engineering, project “Intelligent Robotronics” and partially by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project nos. 13-07-01032 and 13-07-00988.