Teleoperation of mobile robots by generating augmented free-viewpoint images

This paper proposes a teleoperation interface by which an operator can control a robot from freely configured viewpoints using realistic images of the physical world. The viewpoints generated by the proposed interface provide human operators with intuitive control using a head-mounted display and head tracker, and assist them to grasp the environment surrounding the robot. A state-of-the-art free-viewpoint image generation technique is employed to generate the scene presented to the operator. In addition, an augmented reality technique is used to superimpose a 3D model of the robot onto the generated scenes. Through evaluations under virtual and physical environments, we confirmed that the proposed interface improves the accuracy of teleoperation.