Introducing a 6G-Enabled Multi-Connectivity Robotic Teleoperation Platform

As advancements in wireless technologies address the critical demands in medical robotics, industrial automation, hazardous material handling, and disaster response, it is crucial to test real implementations of upcoming wireless technologies. This work presents a teleoperation test environment that seamlessly integrates diverse wireless communication technologies, supporting multi-connectivity without requiring modifications to the core application code utilizing Robot Operating System 2 (ROS 2). This flexible testbed is used for the evaluation of network performance in terms of latency, packet delay variation (jitter) and reliability metrics. Additionally, the integration of a novel decentralized Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication (dURLLC) system is demonstrated and evaluated, highlighting its potential as a reference setup for future communication technologies in 6G environments. Single-path and multi-path communication setups, including a dual 5G connection, are integrated into the testbed, compared, and evaluated regarding overall system performance. The results provide valuable insights into designing resilient and low-latency teleoperation systems, contributing to the advancement of 6G-enabled robotic applications.