Low-Cost Teleoperation Extension for Mobile Manipulators

TL;DR

This work presents an open-source teleoperation framework that enables intuitive whole body control using readily available commodity hardware and validate the approach through user studies that demonstrate improved task performance and reduced cognitive load compared to keyboard-based control.

Abstract

Teleoperation of mobile bimanual manipulators requires simultaneous control of high-dimensional systems, often necessitating expensive specialized equipment. We present an open-source teleoperation framework that enables intuitive whole body control using readily available commodity hardware. Our system combines smartphone-based head tracking for camera control, leader arms for bilateral manipulation, and foot pedals for hands-free base navigation. Using a standard smartphone with IMU and display, we eliminate the need for costly VR helmets while maintaining immersive visual feedback. The modular architecture integrates seamlessly with the XLeRobot framework, but can be easily adapted to other types of mobile manipulators. We validate our approach through user studies that demonstrate improved task performance and reduced cognitive load compared to keyboard-based control.

Figures (6)

• Figure 1: Manipulation system components.
• Figure 2: Smartphone VR interface control.
• Figure 3: Pack printed part task sequence of actions.
• Figure 4: Locker task sequence of actions.
• Figure 5: Trash can task sequence of actions.