Dynamic Mobile Manipulation via Whole-Body Bilateral Teleoperation of a Wheeled Humanoid

TL;DR

This paper introduces a whole-body teleoperation framework for dynamic mobile manipulation using a wheeled humanoid robot, enabling tasks like moving large objects with real-time control and haptic feedback.

Contribution

It presents a novel teleoperation system with dynamic locomotion mapping and kinematic retargeting for wheeled humanoids performing manipulation tasks.

Findings

Successfully grasped moving targets at 0.4 m/s

Pushed boxes weighing over 100% of robot weight

Controlled heavy objects at 0.2 m/s

Abstract

Humanoid robots have the potential to help human workers by realizing physically demanding manipulation tasks such as moving large boxes within warehouses. We define such tasks as Dynamic Mobile Manipulation (DMM). This paper presents a framework for DMM via whole-body teleoperation, built upon three key contributions: Firstly, a teleoperation framework employing a Human Machine Interface (HMI) and a bi-wheeled humanoid, SATYRR, is proposed. Secondly, the study introduces a dynamic locomotion mapping, utilizing human-robot reduced order models, and a kinematic retargeting strategy for manipulation tasks. Additionally, the paper discusses the role of whole-body haptic feedback for wheeled humanoid control. Finally, the system's effectiveness and mappings for DMM are validated through locomanipulation experiments and heavy box pushing tasks. Here we show two forms of DMM: grasping a target moving at an average speed of 0.4 m/s, and pushing boxes weighing up to 105\% of the robot's weight. By simultaneously adjusting their pitch and using their arms, the pilot adjusts the robot pose to apply larger contact forces and move a heavy box at a constant velocity of 0.2 m/s.