A Virtual Reality based System for Programming Mobile Manipulation Tasks

This paper presents a virtual reality based system for programming mobile manipulation tasks. The system supports two modes of operation. The first mode implements a virtual reality interface for teleoperation, while the second mode is based on the programming by demonstration paradigm. The system exploits an advanced user interface allowing users with little or no technical expertise to integrate new tasks in a mobile robotic platform. The user can specify trajectories to be performed by the mobile base by means of a natural interface. Moreover the operator can supervise and validate the demonstrated task through a simulation module, thereby reducing errors in the generation process. Some experiments involving the whole set of system components demonstrate the viability and effectiveness of the approach.