Immersive telepresence as an alternative for human exploration

Abstract

Progress in the information technology field is creating compelling alternatives to direct human exploration of distant planetary surfaces. One such alternative is immersive telepresence where the human explorer is Earthbound but able to remotely interact with a distant environment. Exploration goals for science, operational development and public engagement each have unique requirements on immersive systems.Understanding the future capabilities of these systems is essential for deriving requirements of data volume, bandwidth and latency for future robotic missions. Immersive systems have made significant advances and are now being driven by the entertainment and game industries. These systems allow the observer to experience the virtual environment through head movements and feel immersed into the simulated environment. When the simulation fidelity is equivalent to the observations of an in-situ explorer, the visual experience is the same as being there. How will our feelings toward individual human exploration change when we all have the ability to walk on other worlds and cast our shadows on the rocks? The expectation is that this will tip the balance of an exploration portfolio toward in situ machines over people. 1 2

Immersive teleoperation of a robot arm using electro-tactile feedback

“…Two important objectives to make teleoperation work better is embodiment, within the robot, and immersion, in remote environment, as explained by [8] and [9]. As teleoperation finds more applications, embodiment and immersion is becoming increasingly required in order to perform work that is difficult to perform remotely, as explained by [10].…”

“…Furthermore, [12] consider that the experience of using and/or having a body of any type is a form of embodiment. Immersion is defined as a process that creates an equivalent experience to a human presence in the actual remote environment, see [9].…”

Sinyal Elektrik untuk Memperkaya Pengendalian Robot Jarak Jauh

“…Beberapa aplikasi dari pengedalian jarak jauh diantaranya adalah explorasi luar angkasa [1], penyelaman dasar laut [2], operasi dari jarak jauh [3], dan bidang pertambangan [4]. Pengendalian robot jarak jauh tersebut memerlukan informasi dari robot dan atau lingkungan di sekitar robot.…”

Uma Ferramenta de Telepresença Imersiva usando Oculus Rift

“…Telepresença refere-se a um conjunto de tecnologias que permite uma pessoa se sentir como se estivesse presente em um lugar que não seja a sua verdadeira localização. Telepresença imersiva é o próximo passo e o objetivo passa por proporcionar a sensação de que o utilizador se encontra completamente imerso num ambiente remoto [Terrile & Noraky, 2012]. Para que isso ocorra, os sentidos do usuário precisam ser estimulados e, quanto mais sentidos forem estimulados e quanto mais fortes forem esses estímulos, maior será a sensação de imersão [Rodrigues, 2015].…”