Orbital Head-Mounted Display: A Novel Interface for Viewpoint Control during Robot Teleoperation in Cluttered Environments

Conference paper (2023)

Authors

S. Kuitert Heemskerk Innovative Technology B.V., Student
Jelle Hofland Heemskerk Innovative Technology B.V.
Cock J.M. Heemskerk Heemskerk Innovative Technology B.V.
David Abbink Human-Centred Artificial Intelligence - IDE , Human-Robot Interaction - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
L. Peternel Human-Robot Interaction - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
Research Group
Human-Robot Interaction (Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2023 S. Kuitert, Jelle Hofland, Cock J.M. Heemskerk, D.A. Abbink, L. Peternel
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/IROS55552.2023.10341733
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Published Date

2023

Language

English

Reuse Rights

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Faculty

Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering

Department

Cognitive Robotics

Research Group

Human-Robot Interaction

Abstract

Robotic teleoperation is used in various applications, including the nuclear industry, where the experience and intelligence of a human operator are necessary for making complex decisions that are beyond the autonomy of robots. Human-robot interfaces that help strengthen an operators situational awareness without inducing excessive cognitive load are crucial to the success of teleoperation. This paper presents a novel visual interface that allows operators to simultaneously control a 6-DoF camera platform and a robotic manipulator whilst experiencing the remote environment through a virtual reality head-mounted display (HMD). The proposed system, Orbital Head-Mounted Display (OHMD), utilizes head rotation tracking to command camera movement in azimuth and elevation directions around a fixation point located at a robot's end-effector. A human factor study was conducted to compare the interface acceptance, perceived workload, and task performance of OHMD with a conventional interface utilizing multiple fixed cameras (Array) and a standard head-mounted display implementation (HMD). Results show that both the OHMD and HMD interfaces significantly improve task performance, reduce perceived workload and increase interface acceptance compared to the Array interface. Participants reported they preferred OHMD due to the increased assistance and freedom in viewpoint selection. Whilst OHMD excelled in usefulness, the standard HMD interface allowed operators to perform robotic welding tasks significantly faster.