Arbitrary Viewpoint Visualization for Teleoperation of Disaster Response Robots

In this work, we propose an arbitrary viewpoint visualization system for disaster response robots. Robot operation from safety areas using teleoperation is highly desirable. To provide sufficient information, it is common to employ multiple displays, however, this often reduces operability. To avoid reduced operability we integrate all acquired images into a single bird eye view. The system is also capable of moving this viewpoint to any arbitrary position for ease of operation, and to overlay a computer-generated image of the robot that is synchronized to match the real robot pose onto the generated view when necessary. Experiments confirmed pose synchronization, generation of views from arbitrary positions, as well as improved operability.