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Autonomy infused teleoperation with application to brain computer interface controlled manipulation

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Abstract

Robot teleoperation systems face a common set of challenges including latency, low-dimensional user commands, and asymmetric control inputs. User control with Brain–Computer Interfaces (BCIs) exacerbates these problems through especially noisy and erratic low-dimensional motion commands due to the difficulty in decoding neural activity. We introduce a general framework to address these challenges through a combination of computer vision, user intent inference, and arbitration between the human input and autonomous control schemes. Adjustable levels of assistance allow the system to balance the operators capabilities and their perception of control authority. Additionally, a custom servo controller design allow for safe interactions of the robotic arm with the environment. We present experimental results demonstrating significant performance improvement using our shared-control assistance framework on adapted rehabilitation benchmarks with two subjects at various timepoints relative to their implantation with intracortical BCIs. Our results indicate that shared assistance mitigates perceived user difficulty in using a seven-degree of freedom robotic arm as a prosthetic and enables successful performance on previously infeasible tasks. We showcase the extensibility of our architecture with applications to quality-of-life tasks such as opening a door, pouring liquids from containers, and manipulation with objects previously unknown to the system in densely cluttered environments.

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Notes

  1. http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01364480.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge funding under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agencys Autonomous Robotic Manipulation Software Track (ARM-S) program and the Revolutionizing Prosthetics program (contract number N66001-10-C-4056). The material presented in this paper is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation’s NRI Purposeful Prediction program (Award No. 1227495) and the GRF program (Award No. DGE-1252522). This study was completed under an investigational device exemption granted by the US Food and Drug Administration. We thank the study participants for their dedication and insightful discussions with the study team. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not represent the official policy or position of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, National Science Foundation, or the US Government. We thank Sidd Srinivasa for helpful conversations and Pedro Mediano for his work on the “Dragonfly” software bridge that enabled this effort.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Katharina Muelling, Arun Venkatraman, Jean-Sebastien Valois, Shervin Javdani, Martial Hebert, Andrew B. Schwartz & J. Andrew Bagnell

  2. Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    John E. Downey & Jennifer L. Collinger

  3. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Univeristy of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Jeffrey Weiss & Jennifer L. Collinger

  4. VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Jennifer L. Collinger

  5. Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Andrew B. Schwartz

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  1. Katharina Muelling
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  2. Arun Venkatraman
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  3. Jean-Sebastien Valois
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Correspondence to Katharina Muelling.

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This is one of several papers published in Autonomous Robots comprising the “Special Issue on Robotics Science and Systems”.

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Muelling, K., Venkatraman, A., Valois, JS. et al. Autonomy infused teleoperation with application to brain computer interface controlled manipulation. Auton Robot 41, 1401–1422 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10514-017-9622-4

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