ARCHR — Apparatus for Remote Control of Humanoid Robots

Abstract

The Apparatus for Remote Control of Humanoid Robots (ARCHR) is an intuitive teleoperation system for high degree of freedom robots with haptic feedback. The purpose of this system is to allow minimally trained individuals to control a complex robot to complete a dexterous task. For example if it is a biohazard handling task then we want a biohazard handling expert operating the robot. However it should not be required that the biohazard handling expert also be a trained robot handler. The robot should be controlled intuitively and give good situational awareness. This is especially important in situations requiring first responders. The ARCHR system uses scaled kinematics of the target robot to incorporate the humans inherent intuitive understanding of joint motion. This setup also allows for hardware self collision detection. A scaled stereoscopic video feed in conjunction with a binocular virtual reality system immures the user into the body of the robot. This immersion is scale independent. Finally haptic feedback is used to extend the immersion to the tactile space. Three ARCHR controllers were created for three distinct humanoid robots, the DRC-Hubo, Baxter, and MiniBot. Each of these robots range from full-size to infant-size. Public testing was done using 30 untrained users on each platform. The results showed that the system does achieve the goal of creating an intuitive and immersive teleoperation system for high degree of freedom robots.