Exploring Perspective Dependency in a Shared Body with Virtual Supernumerary Robotic Arms

Abstract

With advancements in robotics, systems featuring wearable robotic arms teleoperated by a third party are appearing. An important aspect of these systems is the visual feedback provided to the third party operator. This can be achieved by placing a wearable camera on the robotic arm's "host", but such a setup makes the visual feedback dependent on the movements of the main body. Here we reproduced this view dependency in VR using a shared body. The "host" shares their virtual body with the virtual Supernumerary Robotic Arms of the teleoperator. In our research, the two users perform two tasks: (i) a "synchronization task" to improve their joint action performance and (ii) a "building task" where they worked together to build a tower. In a user study, we evaluated the embodiment, workload, and performance of the teleoperator through the "building task" with three different view dependency modes. We present some early outcomes as trends that might give directions for the future investigations.