3D interaction technique to enhance telemanipulation tasks using virtual environment

This paper gives preliminary results about the utilization of an interaction technique called FOLLOW-ME to fasten the selection task for teleoperation system. The implementation of an interaction between a user and a virtual environment (VE) in virtual reality (VR) may use various techniques. However, in the case of teleoperation, the interaction must be very precise and comfortable for the user. The model associated to the FOLLOW-ME technique splits the virtual environment into three zones in which a specific interaction model is used: a free manipulation zone, a scaled manipulation zone and a precise manipulation zone. Each one of the three zones is characterized by a specific interaction granularity. In the precise manipulation zone, we use the concept of virtual guides in order to assist the user to achieve his task. In this paper, our aim is to show that the FOLLOW-ME technique is well suited for selection in teleoperation tasks. To do this, we have first compared the FOLLOW-ME technique with classical interaction techniques in a virtual environment where different targets are situated at different depth and may move. The preliminary results show that our technique is more efficient than the classical go-go and ray-casting techniques, in a sense that the task is more reproducible and easier to accomplish by the user. In a second stage, we use this result to design selection procedures for the ARITI tele-operation system and show that the use of FOLLOW-ME induces benefits for the user