TeMoto: Intuitive Multi-Range Telerobotic System with Natural Gestural and Verbal Instruction Interface
Teleoperated mobile robots, equipped with object manipulation capabilities, provide safe means for executing dangerous tasks in hazardous environments without putting humans at risk. However, mainly due to a communication delay, complex operator interfaces and insufficient Situational Awareness (SA)...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2018-02-01
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| Series: | Robotics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2218-6581/7/1/9 |
| _version_ | 1811301887224315904 |
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| author | Robert Valner Karl Kruusamäe Mitch Pryor |
| author_facet | Robert Valner Karl Kruusamäe Mitch Pryor |
| author_sort | Robert Valner |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Teleoperated mobile robots, equipped with object manipulation capabilities, provide safe means for executing dangerous tasks in hazardous environments without putting humans at risk. However, mainly due to a communication delay, complex operator interfaces and insufficient Situational Awareness (SA), the task productivity of telerobots remains inferior to human workers. This paper addresses the shortcomings of telerobots by proposing a combined approach of (i) a scalable and intuitive operator interface with gestural and verbal input, (ii) improved Situational Awareness (SA) through sensor fusion according to documented best practices, (iii) integrated virtual fixtures for task simplification and minimizing the operator’s cognitive burden and (iv) integrated semiautonomous behaviors that further reduce cognitive burden and negate the impact of communication delays, execution latency and/or failures. The proposed teleoperation system, TeMoto, is implemented using ROS (Robot Operating System) to ensure hardware agnosticism, extensibility and community access. The operator’s command interface consists of a Leap Motion Controller for hand tracking, Griffin PowerMate USB as turn knob for scaling and a microphone for speech input. TeMoto is evaluated on multiple robots including two mobile manipulator platforms. In addition to standard, task-specific evaluation techniques (completion time, user studies, number of steps, etc.)—which are platform and task dependent and thus difficult to scale—this paper presents additional metrics for evaluating the user interface including task-independent criteria for measuring generalized (i) task completion efficiency and (ii) operator context switching. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T07:18:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8507181d27b6461890b673041583790a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2218-6581 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T07:18:02Z |
| publishDate | 2018-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Robotics |
| spelling | doaj.art-8507181d27b6461890b673041583790a2022-12-22T02:56:42ZengMDPI AGRobotics2218-65812018-02-0171910.3390/robotics7010009robotics7010009TeMoto: Intuitive Multi-Range Telerobotic System with Natural Gestural and Verbal Instruction InterfaceRobert Valner0Karl Kruusamäe1Mitch Pryor2Intelligent Materials and Systems Lab, University of Tartu, Nooruse 1, 50411 Tartu, EstoniaIntelligent Materials and Systems Lab, University of Tartu, Nooruse 1, 50411 Tartu, EstoniaNuclear and Applied Robotics Group, University of Texas at Austin, 10100 Burnet Rd, Austin, TX 78758, USATeleoperated mobile robots, equipped with object manipulation capabilities, provide safe means for executing dangerous tasks in hazardous environments without putting humans at risk. However, mainly due to a communication delay, complex operator interfaces and insufficient Situational Awareness (SA), the task productivity of telerobots remains inferior to human workers. This paper addresses the shortcomings of telerobots by proposing a combined approach of (i) a scalable and intuitive operator interface with gestural and verbal input, (ii) improved Situational Awareness (SA) through sensor fusion according to documented best practices, (iii) integrated virtual fixtures for task simplification and minimizing the operator’s cognitive burden and (iv) integrated semiautonomous behaviors that further reduce cognitive burden and negate the impact of communication delays, execution latency and/or failures. The proposed teleoperation system, TeMoto, is implemented using ROS (Robot Operating System) to ensure hardware agnosticism, extensibility and community access. The operator’s command interface consists of a Leap Motion Controller for hand tracking, Griffin PowerMate USB as turn knob for scaling and a microphone for speech input. TeMoto is evaluated on multiple robots including two mobile manipulator platforms. In addition to standard, task-specific evaluation techniques (completion time, user studies, number of steps, etc.)—which are platform and task dependent and thus difficult to scale—this paper presents additional metrics for evaluating the user interface including task-independent criteria for measuring generalized (i) task completion efficiency and (ii) operator context switching.http://www.mdpi.com/2218-6581/7/1/9teleoperationhuman-robot interfacesupervisory controlnatural language inputgesture input |
| spellingShingle | Robert Valner Karl Kruusamäe Mitch Pryor TeMoto: Intuitive Multi-Range Telerobotic System with Natural Gestural and Verbal Instruction Interface Robotics teleoperation human-robot interface supervisory control natural language input gesture input |
| title | TeMoto: Intuitive Multi-Range Telerobotic System with Natural Gestural and Verbal Instruction Interface |
| title_full | TeMoto: Intuitive Multi-Range Telerobotic System with Natural Gestural and Verbal Instruction Interface |
| title_fullStr | TeMoto: Intuitive Multi-Range Telerobotic System with Natural Gestural and Verbal Instruction Interface |
| title_full_unstemmed | TeMoto: Intuitive Multi-Range Telerobotic System with Natural Gestural and Verbal Instruction Interface |
| title_short | TeMoto: Intuitive Multi-Range Telerobotic System with Natural Gestural and Verbal Instruction Interface |
| title_sort | temoto intuitive multi range telerobotic system with natural gestural and verbal instruction interface |
| topic | teleoperation human-robot interface supervisory control natural language input gesture input |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2218-6581/7/1/9 |
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