Demo: The Future of Dog Walking – Four-Legged Robots and Augmented Reality

Abstract

New generations of mobile networks are opening up novel possibilities for controlling robots remotely in real-time. With 5G’s requirement to support use cases that demand low latencies at a high reliability from the communication network, wireless control applications become feasible. A remote operator typically uses a handheld device with buttons or joysticks to control a mobile robot. Joysticks are widely used today. The limitations of two-dimensional controlling and displaying of camera data can cause difficulties. Augmented Reality (AR)-based control provides the ability to control in three dimensional space. Therefore, new user-friendly Human Machine Interfaces (HMIs) can improve the interaction with these robots. In this demonstration, we present a human-in-the-loop application with a novel HMI. With our HMI a remote operator controls a four-legged Boston Dynamics Spot robot with gestures while wearing the AR-Headset Microsoft HoloLens 2. The remote operator receives feedback from the robot in the form of live camera streams visualised on holographic screens.