ECE PhD Dissertation Defense: Murphy Wonsick

PhD Dissertation Defense: Supervisory Control for Humanoid Robots Through Virtual Reality Interfaces

Murphy Wonsick

Location: ISEC 655

Abstract: Recent advancements in robotics have allowed robots to become capable enough to be used in a wide variety of domains that are dangerous for humans to operate in, such as disaster relief operations, exploration of extraterrestrial planets, bomb disposal, or nuclear decommissioning efforts. However, current supervisory control interfaces that allow humans to explore and interact in these environments through remote presence and teleoperation are complex and often require expert operators. Virtual reality provides a medium to create immersive and easy-to-use teleoperation interfaces. Virtual reality allows operators to visualize and interact with 3D data in a 3D environment that is not possible with traditional interfaces that make use of 2D devices, such as monitors, keyboards, mice, tablets, and/or game controllers. Yet, development of supervisory control virtual reality interfaces for robot operation is still very limited. Most present work in virtual reality interfaces focuses on direct teleoperation and not on high-level control that supervisory control interfaces can provide. In this dissertation, we focus on developing virtual reality supervisory control interfaces for remote robot operation. We specifically focus on high degree-of-freedom robots, such as humanoid robots or mobile manipulator robots, as they are the most suited types of robots for remote operation. To accomplish this, we first look to better understand and define humanoid robot capabilities using NASA’s humanoid robot, Valkyrie. Following, we synthesize the current state-of-the-art supervisory control interfaces for humanoid robots to create our own supervisory control interface using traditional devices. We then use this information to create a virtual reality supervisory control interface for Valkyrie. Finally, we look to improve virtual reality interfaces for robot operation through a user-centered design approach to inform future development on virtual reality interfaces.