Remote control of an assistive robot using force feedback

In this paper, we consider the haptic teleoperation of an assistive mobile robot, used for exploring a domestic environment. The goal of the paper is to help the remote operator to pilot the robot by giving him not only video feedback but also haptic feedback. They are both complementary as they do not require the same kind of attention from the user. The proposed haptic architecture was found to improve operator perception of the remote environment under time delay communication. The human-operator can control actively the mobile robot, using its intrinsic sensors, and “feel” the slave environment. Experimental results, with a real robot, are performed and analyzed.