Hands-free teleoperation of a nearby manipulator through a virtual body-to-robot link

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel AR-based control method for teleoperating nearby robots via a virtual body link, enabling intuitive, amplified, and hybrid control modes, with promising results for assistive applications.

Contribution

It introduces a body-to-robot virtual linkage system with reconfigurable control modes, enhancing intuitiveness and workspace for teleoperation compared to traditional joystick methods.

Findings

Body-link control is slightly faster than joystick control.

Participants prefer body-link control for its intuitiveness.

Hybrid mode offers a balance between control range and ease of use.

Abstract

This paper introduces an innovative control approach for teleoperating a robot in close proximity to a human operator, which could be useful to control robots embedded on wheelchairs. The method entails establishing a virtual connection between a specific body part and the robot's end-effector, visually displayed through an Augmented Reality (AR) headset. This linkage enables the transformation of body rotations into amplified effector translations, extending the robot's workspace beyond the capabilities of direct one-to-one mapping. Moreover, the linkage can be reconfigured using a joystick, resulting in a hybrid position/velocity control mode using the body/joystick motions respectively. After providing a comprehensive overview of the control methodology, we present the results of an experimental campaign designed to elucidate the advantages and drawbacks of our approach compared to the conventional joystick-based teleoperation method. The body-link control demonstrates slightly faster task completion and is naturally preferred over joystick velocity control, albeit being more physically demanding for tasks with a large range. The hybrid mode, where participants could simultaneously utilize both modes, emerges as a compromise, combining the intuitiveness of the body mode with the extensive task range of the velocity mode. Finally, we provide preliminary observations on potential assistive applications using head motions, especially for operators with limited range of motion in their bodies.