reasearch project by
Leonhard E. Bernold, Associate Professor
Justin Lloyd, RA
The field of telerobotics has existed since
at least the early 50's when primitive systems were first applied to the
remote operation of hazardous equipment in the nuclear power industry.
Until the early 90's and the advent of the Internet, practical telerobotics
technologies were mainly limited to closed-circuit systems over short
distances employed in hazardous situations that required human intervention-
stereotypically the technician behind a glass plate, operating robotic
arms to lift a hazardous item. With the promise of the World Wide Web,
however, it has become possible to develop and envision telerobotics systems
over vast distances controlled from the comfort of a desktop PC, setting
off an explosion of research in the telerobotics field and spawning research
niches like telepresence.
The construction industry, like many others, aspires to employ the power
of new information technologies to traditional problems. A business dominated
by skilled laborers and equipment operators, construction requires the
expensive and frequently dangerous on-site training of its workers with
actual equipment. This dangerous inefficiency provides a plethora of possible
uses for a reliable remote training system designed to impart users with
pertinent motor skills, such as those necessary to operate a crane or
backhoe. An Internet-based telerobotics system, restricted to the laboratory
environment but retaining the realism of the actual equipment, would provide
a cheaper and safer means of achieving operator training, and would enable
unique capabilities in operator performance evaluation and research.
CARL envisions such a system in its development of the prototype "Virtual Trainer". With the application of CARL's unique facilities and equipment, a fully functional Internet-based, teleoperated, force feedback backhoe system has been constructed, enabling the real-time force feedback joystick control of CARL's in-house research backhoe system.
Interfaced with special MPEG2 stereoscopic video compression technology, the "Televator" system provides remote clients with high resolution, real-time, 3-D video feedback. This feature, combined with the Televator's haptic feedback, audio feedback and other forms of augmented feedback derived from the Televator's sensors, allows for a fully immersive "telexistence" experience.
The incorporation of interactive tutorial
programs into the Televator, along with evaluative software to monitor
task performance and skill levels, has opened the door to the creation
of a Virtual Trainer system. Users of the Virtual Trainer are presented
with a learning environment commensurate with real-life training practices,
following auditory instructions presented by the tutorial software,
or "coach", and controlling CARL's research backhoe simultaneously.
The tutorials monitor the user's training progress and actions as well
as real-time backhoe properties, including kinematics and forces, and
adapt based on user needs. In addition to the training tutorials, several
tests incorporated into the tutorial structure allow operators to practice
their skills and evaluate their abilities. Current tutorials and tests
allow a novice backhoe operator to learn basic backhoe functions and
function combinations to produce useful, medium skill level backhoe
motions. Training may be conducted in the lab or using the Televator's
remote operation capability.
Future development on the Virtual Trainer system includes improvement
of the user interface, the creation of more complex and useful tutorial
programs, the research and incorporation of more effective ways of training
new operators, and the definition and refinement of skill evaluation
parameters.
Research
Paper: EQUIPMENT OPERATOR TRAINING IN THE AGE OF INTERNET2.