Enhancing Teleoperation: Visual Attention-Guiding Techniques in Virtual Reality Robot Interfaces
Beschreibung
Teleoperation of robots has been crucial in safety-critical areas like search-and-rescue, underwater exploration, and critical inspections, where domain experts remotely control robots for specific tasks. With the growing presence of mobile robots in daily life, such as social, delivery, and surveillance robots, teleoperation is evolving. Cost-efficient and increasingly automated robots reduce the need for constant operator oversight. However, human intervention remains essential in cases of system failure, uncertainty, or collaborative tasks, requiring operators to manage multiple robots and quickly assess remote situations.
To enhance situational awareness, 360° camera systems are integrated into robots, offering comprehensive visual data compared to traditional camera setups. Virtual reality (VR) headsets provide an immersive and intuitive way to interact with 360° environments, making this data more accessible. While VR headsets support wide fields of view, the human visual field is limited to 120° horizontally, requiring head and body movements to explore the full scene. Visual attention-guiding techniques can improve task performance and reduce mental workload, aiding orientation and search tasks for out-of-view targets.
Building on this background, the thesis could explore the design and evaluation of visual attention-guiding techniques in virtual reality for teleoperated robots using 360° camera systems. The specific research question for the thesis will be cooperatively derived before the start of the thesis. Research questions can range from more technical aspects, i.e. development of visual cues with programming work in Unity3D, to aspects more in the domain of human factors research.
Language: English or German.
Aufgaben
- Literature Review
- User Study or Technical Development
- Data Analysis
- Discussion
Kenntnisse
- Basic Knowledge or Interest in Human Factors Research
- or Basic Knowledge or Interest in Programming/Mechanical Engineering
