Virtual Environment-Based Teleoperation of Forestry Machines: Designing Future Interaction Methods

Virtual environment-assisted teleoperation has great potential as a human-robot interaction paradigm for field robotic systems, in particular when combined with elements of automation. Unstructured outdoor environments present a complex problem with many challenging elements. For the specific application of forestry machines, we investigate which steps are required in order to implement such a system, what potential benefits there are, and how individual components can be adapted to efficiently assist forestry machine operators in their daily work in the near future. An experimental prototype of a teleoperation system with virtual environment-based feedback is constructed using a scenario-based design process. The feasibility of the implementation is partly verified through experimental studies.