A multi-layer approach of interactive path planning for assisted manipulation in virtual reality

This work considers Virtual Reality (VR) applications dealing with objects manipulation (such as industrial product assembly, disassembly or maintenance simulation). For such applications, the operator performing the simulation can be assisted by path planning techniques from the robotics research field. A novel automatic path planner involving geometrical, topological and semantic information of the environment is proposed for the guidance of the user through a haptic device. The interaction allows on one hand, the automatic path planner providing assistance to the human operator, and on the other hand, the human operator to reset the whole planning process suggesting a better suited path. Control sharing techniques are used to improve the assisted manipulation ergonomics by dynamically balancing the automatic path planner authority according to the operator involvement in the task, and by predicting user's intent to integrate it as early as possible in the planning process.