Implementation of Augmented Teleoperation System Based on Robot Operating System (ROS)

Abstract

Deployment of robotics and remote systems for tasks in unstructured nuclear environment has been impeded by the severe task requirements such as high radiation and dexterous and complex manipulation of heavy materials, which cannot be addressed by the current telerobotics technology. To address such practical challenges, this paper presents an enhanced teleoperator interface incorporating multi-modal augmented reality, and new method of telerobotic operation based on perceptual overlay - `virtual fixtures'. Rather than trying to devise complex robotic systems, innovation is directed to enhancement of teleoperator interface so as to draw more performance and intuition from the human operator. Particular enhancements were made over the current technology basis in 3D sensing and reconstruction, virtual fixture generation, and operator interface. The telerobotic system was developed using ROS (Robot Operating System) to streamline system integration and resource sharing. The presented innovation is expected to allow deployment of simple and rugged robots to perform dexterous manipulation of heavy objects.