In the context of human work, there is a need for telerobotics. Telerobotics allow one person torapidly help multiple people from one location. One of the issues encountered in telerobotics is time delay, which reduces the sense of embodiment and, therefore, control over the robotic avatar. So, models need to be created to allow for mediation of the effects of time delay.
In this research, a virtual environment is created to mediate this effect of time delay observed and experienced by the operator of the avatar. Using ROS we can find the states of the real setup that the environment approximates, such that the virtual environment behaves appropriately. In the design of the virtual environment, it is important to consider the sense of embodiment. This is done by taking into account the correct morphology of the human body. We find that these senses of embodiment are complex to quantify and as such, they are both measured implicitly and explicitly. During the evaluation, the environment was tested using whack-a-mole and we found that the average scores were 21.8 [%] higher when using the virtual environment, displaying its effectiveness.
We also find an average embodiment score of 0.66 [-] on the 7-point Likert scale showing that embodiment is experienced. We find that overall the virtual environment provides better precision and accuracy over the movement of the robot arm. Further improvements for the virtual environment could be to improve the input control scheme, make the rest of the avatar move according to the rest of the operator’s body and provide a more human-like arm and avatar.