Interactive Planning and Supervised Execution for High-Risk, High-Latency Teleoperation

Ground-based teleoperation of robot manipulators for on-orbit servicing of spacecraft represents an example of high-payoff, high-risk operations that are challenging to perform due to high latency communications, with telemetry time delays of several seconds. In these scenarios, confidence of operating without failure is paramount. We report the development of an Interactive Planning and Supervised Execution (IPSE) system that takes advantage of accurate 3D reconstruction of the remote environment to enable operators to plan motions in the virtual world, evaluate and adjust the plan, and then supervise execution with the ability to pause and return to the planning environment at any time. We report the results of an experimental evaluation of a representative on-orbit telerobotic servicing task from NASA's upcoming OSAM-1 mission to refuel a satellite in low earth orbit; specifically, to change the robot tool to acquire the fuel supply line and then to insert it into the satellite fill/drain valve. Results of a pilot study show that the operators preferred, and were more successful with, the IPSE system when compared to a conventional teleoperation implementation.

Authors

• Will Pryor
• Balázs P. Vágvölgyi
• Anton Deguet
• Simon Léonard
• Louis L. Whitcomb
• Peter Kazanzides

Keywords

• Satellites
• Three-dimensional displays
• Tools
• Valves
• Planning
• Telemetry
• Telerobotics
• Time Delay
• Virtual World
• Path Planning
• Low Earth Orbit
• Teleoperator
• Virtually
• Simulation Environment
• Camera Images
• Robotic Arm
• Train Operation
• End-effector
• Communication Delay
• Registration Procedure
• Enhanced Thematic Mapper
• Partial Success
• Registration Error
• CAD Model
• Visual Programming
• Round-trip Time
• 3D Display
• Robot Operating System
• Teleoperation System
• Orientation Error
• Virtual Camera
• Metrics Of Success
• Robot Motion
• Scrubber
• Robot Control
• Task Load Index