Mixed Reality Interface for Improving Mobile Manipulator Teleoperation in Contamination Critical Applications

Abstract

This paper presents a mixed reality teleoperation interface for mobile manipulation tasks in contamination critical production environments, where human presence is undesirable. This is achieved by using an intuitive control approach and providing the operator with a sense of depth through various visual feedback modalities. The different visual feeds from a mono-and stereoscopic multi-camera setup are displayed for the operator, in a mixed reality control room developed in Unity. The control interface employs the differentiation of the VR controller’s pose, interpolated into a trajectory for the end-effector. The communication between the operator and the robot is facilitated through ROS for control commands and visual feedback. Speed of operation is typically not crucial in current use cases, while task safety, accuracy, and perception are paramount. The paper presents the latest research developments of a mixed reality interface designed and tested for a mobile manipulator.