Assisting MoCap-Based Teleoperation of Robot Arm using Augmented Reality Visualisations

TL;DR

This paper investigates how augmented reality visualizations can improve MoCap-based teleoperation of robot arms by providing visual references that help users understand and control the robot more effectively.

Contribution

It introduces AR visualizations of a virtual human arm to assist users in controlling robot arms via MoCap, enhancing understanding of movement mapping.

Findings

AR overlay of a humanoid arm improves user learning

Visual feedback reduces control errors

Enhanced user understanding of robot movement

Abstract

Teleoperating a robot arm involves the human operator positioning the robot's end-effector or programming each joint. Whereas humans can control their own arms easily by integrating visual and proprioceptive feedback, it is challenging to control an external robot arm in the same way, due to its inconsistent orientation and appearance. We explore teleoperating a robot arm through motion-capture (MoCap) of the human operator's arm with the assistance of augmented reality (AR) visualisations. We investigate how AR helps teleoperation by visualising a virtual reference of the human arm alongside the robot arm to help users understand the movement mapping. We found that the AR overlay of a humanoid arm on the robot in the same orientation helped users learn the control. We discuss findings and future work on MoCap-based robot teleoperation.