A proposal of EMG-based teleoperation interface for distance mobility

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate an intuitive teleoperation interface for distance mobility, such as telepresence robots. To avoid interference from the upper limbs, the proposed interface used lower limb movements estimated from the surface EMG as the control input. We proposed two types of operation methods: single foot style and bipedal-like methods, and evaluated their operationality and intelligibility through distance operation experiments in a virtual environment. The bipedal-like operation method showed small recognition error and demonstrated stable motion trajectories compared with the single foot style method. Moreover we confirmed that the bipedal-like method was easy to understand. For quantitative evaluation of the intervention from the upper limbs, we executed an additional experiment with a dual task paradigm in which the subjects had to type assigned words during the lower limb operation. The results of the dual task experiment suggested that the bipedal-like method was more natural and effortless than the single foot style operation method.