5G for Robotics: Ultra-Low Latency Control of Distributed Robotic Systems

This paper considers the application of 5G communication technology in robotics. A special focus lies on the ultra-reliable low latency communication (uRLLC) capabilities of the 5G network to facilitate a distributed control system. Additionally, the requirements on the system are also examined. The proposed approach allows offloading of time-critical, computational exhaustive operations onto a distributed node architecture such as cloud server and the communication between the robot and the cloud server is done via uRLLC 5G communication system. A prototype has been developed to test this offloading of time critical task in a real-world application performed by a mobile robot. A high level control calculation, including path planning and inverse kinematics, is performed on a central, external computation unit. The control of the base and the axis of the robot arm are calculated locally on the robot whereas the joint commands are executed on the motor level.