24 research outputs found
Robust Immersive Telepresence and Mobile Telemanipulation: NimbRo wins ANA Avatar XPRIZE Finals
Robotic avatar systems promise to bridge distances and reduce the need for
travel. We present the updated NimbRo avatar system, winner of the $5M grand
prize at the international ANA Avatar XPRIZE competition, which required
participants to build intuitive and immersive robotic telepresence systems that
could be operated by briefly trained operators. We describe key improvements
for the finals, compared to the system used in the semifinals: To operate
without a power- and communications tether, we integrated a battery and a
robust redundant wireless communication system. Video and audio data are
compressed using low-latency HEVC and Opus codecs. We propose a new locomotion
control device with tunable resistance force. To increase flexibility, the
robot's upper-body height can be adjusted by the operator. We describe
essential monitoring and robustness tools which enabled the success at the
competition. Finally, we analyze our performance at the competition finals and
discuss lessons learned.Comment: M. Schwarz and C. Lenz contributed equall
A Tele-Operated Display With a Predictive Display Algorithm
Tele-operated display systems with head mounted displays (HMD) are becoming popular as visual feedback systems for tele-operation systems. However, the users are suffered from time-varying bidirectional delays caused by the latency and limited bandwidth of wireless communication networks. Here, we develop a tele-operated display system and a predictive display algorithm allowing comfortable use of HMDs by operators of tele-operation systems. Inspired by the kinematic model of the human head-neck complex, we built a robot neck-camera system to capture the field of view in any desired orientation. To reduce the negative effects of the time-varying bidirectional communication delay and operation delay of the robot neck, we developed a predictive display algorithm based on a kinematic model of the human/robot neck-camera system, and a geometrical model of a camera. Experimental results showed that the system provide predicted images with high frame rate to the user
Deploying the NASA Valkyrie Humanoid for IED Response: An Initial Approach and Evaluation Summary
As part of a feasibility study, this paper shows the NASA Valkyrie humanoid
robot performing an end-to-end improvised explosive device (IED) response task.
To demonstrate and evaluate robot capabilities, sub-tasks highlight different
locomotion, manipulation, and perception requirements: traversing uneven
terrain, passing through a narrow passageway, opening a car door, retrieving a
suspected IED, and securing the IED in a total containment vessel (TCV). For
each sub-task, a description of the technical approach and the hidden
challenges that were overcome during development are presented. The discussion
of results, which explicitly includes existing limitations, is aimed at
motivating continued research and development to enable practical deployment of
humanoid robots for IED response. For instance, the data shows that operator
pauses contribute to 50\% of the total completion time, which implies that
further work is needed on user interfaces for increasing task completion
efficiency.Comment: 2019 IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robot