Automatic Viewpoint Planning in Teleoperation of a Mobile Robot

Camera viewpoint has significant impact on operators situation awareness in teleoperation. This paper presents a method for automatic optimal positioning of a single camera for a remotely navigated mobile robot in systems with a controllable camera platform. The proposed algorithm continuously adjusts the camera view of the workspace based on the task circumstances, allowing the operator to focus mainly on navigation and manipulation. The workspace and motion limits of the camera system and the location of the obstacles are taken into consideration in the camera view planning by formulating and solving a constrained optimization problem in real-time. A head tracking system enables the operator to use his/her head movements as an extra control input to guide the camera placement, if and when necessary. The proposed viewpoint control framework has been implemented and evaluated in a teleoperation experiment with a mobile robot. Results of a user study comparing this approach to two other common viewpoint control strategies are also reported.