A general stability result for bilateral teleoperator systems with projection-based force reflection algorithms from a broad class is presented. It is shown that the overall stability of a teleoperator system can be achieved under mild assumptions on subsystem stability, properties of the communication channel, dynamics of the human operator, and the human force measurement/estimation process. In particular, the stability is achieved under a new general assumption on human dynamics which allows for both passive and nonpassive behaviour of the human operator. It is demonstrated that the use of projection-based force reflection algorithms effectively removes the constraints on subsystem gains that are typical for direct application of the small-gain design, thus solving the trade-off between stability, manoeuvrability, and high force reflection gain in bilateral teleoperation over communication networks. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.