AeroVR: Virtual Reality-based Teleoperation with Tactile Feedback for Aerial Manipulation

TL;DR

This paper introduces AeroVR, a VR-based teleoperation system for aerial manipulation that enhances control precision and stability using tactile feedback and digital twins, addressing delays and limited views in drone operations.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel VR teleoperation system with tactile feedback for UAVs with robotic arms, improving manipulation accuracy and robustness over existing methods.

Findings

Stable and robust teleoperation demonstrated in experiments

Enhanced manipulation quality with VR and tactile feedback

Real-time control translation from VR to drone system

Abstract

Drone application for aerial manipulation is tested in such areas as industrial maintenance, supporting the rescuers in emergencies, and e-commerce. Most of such applications require teleoperation. The operator receives visual feedback from the camera installed on a robot arm or drone. As aerial manipulation requires delicate and precise motion of robot arm, the camera data delay, narrow field of view, and blurred images caused by drone dynamics can lead the UAV to crash. The paper focuses on the development of a novel teleoperation system for aerial manipulation using Virtual Reality (VR). The controlled system consists of UAV with a 4-DoF robotic arm and embedded sensors. VR application presents the digital twin of drone and remote environment to the user through a head-mounted display (HMD). The operator controls the position of the robotic arm and gripper with VR trackers worn on the arm and tracking glove with vibrotactile feedback. Control data is translated directly from VR to the real robot in real-time. The experimental results showed a stable and robust teleoperation mediated by the VR scene. The proposed system can considerably improve the quality of aerial manipulations.