Development of Avatar Robot for Disabled People

The avatar robot, telepresence, and virtual reality technology can assist disabled people in performing their jobs. Telepresence enables a person to feel as if they were present at a location other than their actual physical location. Telepresence can be utilized in 3 main benefits for example remote presence, assisting with daily tasks, and social interaction. Virtual reality environment can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person, using special electronic equipment such as headset with a screen and motion sensors or a head mounted display (HMDs). The integration of telepresence and virtual reality can allow a person to experience and accessibility to being present in a location different from their physical. Overall, the avatar robot, telepresence, and virtual reality technology offer exciting possibilities for empowering people with disabilities and improving their quality of life and unlock a world of opportunities for working of disabled people.

This proposed system utilizes an avatar robot to augment the capabilities and mobilities of disabled people for working in restocking and replenishing in the store. The working location was considered in two locations: an avatar site for the robot and an operator site for disabled people. An avatar robot has two arms for manipulating the goods from storage to the basket. Three cameras are attached to the avatar to broadcast visual perception via the network to the operator. In the operator site, disabled people wear the Head-mounted display: HMD (Oculus Quest 2) and use controllers to control the avatar robot via the internet. During the operation, the avatar robot performs the two-arm movement according to the operator's control of the controller while the operator perceives the real environment through the HMD. Therefore, the operator picks up a good and drops it into the basket, then sends the basket to the mobile service robot. Finally, disabled people can control the avatar robot via the internet to pick the desired object and send it to the mobile service robot.