Abstract
In recent years, the commercial application of teleoperation for wheeled humanoids has advanced, driving active research and development of related technologies. However, current wheeled humanoid operation systems often rely on glove-based devices to provide tactile and force feedback to the operator's fingers. This approach restricts finger movement, making it difficult for operators to perform delicate tasks simultaneously with movement operations using their upper limbs. Research on performing movement operations exclusively with the lower limbs has been conducted, but these systems have yet to reproduce realistic contact forces. To resolve these issues, this study proposes a novel interface named ”FRIC” (Foot Reactive and Intuitive Controller), which utilizes dimensional scaling bilateral control to enable the realistic presentation of contact forces. This interface allows intuitive control using only the operator's lower limbs. Experimental evaluations in various environments demonstrated that operators could effectively acquire force feedback from remote environments through FRIC. Additionally, obstacle navigation tasks were conducted to assess the effectiveness of the proposed interface.
