Charles A. Erignac

Bilateral Teleoperation of Multiple Mobile Agents: Coordinated Motion and Collision Avoidance

This paper presents theoretical and experimental results on bilateral teleoperation of multiple mobile slave agents coupled to a single master robot. We first design a passifying proportional-derivative (PD) controller to enforce motion tracking and formation control of master and slave vehicles under constant, bounded communication delays. Then, we incorporate avoidance functions to guarantee collision-free transit through obstructed spaces. The unified control framework is validated by experiments with two coaxial helicopters as slave agents and a haptic device as the master robot.

Virtual humans for validating maintenance procedures

They can be sent to check the human aspects of complex physical systems by simulating assembly, repair, and maintenance tasks in a 3D virtual environment.

Closed-Loop Motion Capture Feedback Control of Small- Scale Aerial Vehicles

An approach is presented for closed-loop feedback control of autonomous and teleoperated aerial vehicles in a laboratory setting using off-the-shelf motion capture (MoCap)hardware. The system provides general purpose position feedback capabilities for use in the early development stages of UAVs and other robotic systems. Advantages of this system include increased accuracy, scalability, and robustness as compared to other methods of tracking and control for these types of vehicles. Implementation of the concept for motion control of indoor hovering vehicles is discussed.

Haptics-Enabled UAV Teleoperation Using Motion Capture Systems

This paper describes a system for direct position and orientation control of remotely piloted aerial vehicles using haptic force feedback. Motion capture hardware is used to provide real-time position and orientation information to the closed-loop flight control algorithm. A 3D simulation environment running in parallel with the vehicle control system provides real-time proximity/collision detection and flight volume constraints. Virtual coupling elements are used to connect a haptic user interface, the simulation environment, and the vehicle controller. An implementation of the system using an electrical radio controlled (RC) helicopter in an indoor environment is presented.