VR-Mediated Teleoperation With Glove-Like Interfaces

This paper presents a method for teleoperation using virtual reality (VR) headsets and glove-like interfaces, and evaluates the proposed system with a preliminary user study. For effective teleoperation, it is imperative that the operator possess adequate feedback regarding the remote device state. This work utilizes commodity VR technology to replicate critical remote task features in a purely software/virtual environment from sensor data. The 3D visual feedback is immersive yet simplified to reduce sensory burden — only relevant features are reflected. The system is designed and executed on a real robotic platform, and preliminary operation is encouraging. Moreover, high dexterity VR gloves provide an intuitive and natural interaction for the operator, as the user may present fluid and motion commands without the use of an unnatural game-controller. A user study was conducted to compare performance along several relevant metrics between use of glove-like and game controller interfaces for VR teleoperation. These metrics include time to completion, path length, and jerk as a measure of path smoothness. The results of said study suggest strongly that teleoperator performance improves with the adoption of glove-like interfaces.