Mobile Robot Teleoperation via Android Mobile Device with UDP Communication

Abstract

Teleoperation is an essential component of a robotic system utilized for execution of various remote tasks, e.g. telepresence, reconnaissance or search and rescue. In this paper we investigate the usage of User Datagram Protocol (UDP) for two-way communication between an Android mobile device and Robot Operating System (ROS). UDP offers simplified and connectionless communication, which allows high transmission rates and enables real-time applications. We develop an Android application which turns omnipresent Android devices into cheap and intuitive robot teleoperation interfaces. It enables interpreting user's desired movement choices into corresponding datagrams, which are then sent to the robot via wireless network. As a case study, we implement a solution for controlling the Turtlebot3 differential drive mobile robot within ROS. We examine the utility of UDP-based teleoperation in both simulation and real-life environment. We complement the paper with modular open-source implementations of our Android application and a ROS package featuring the Turtlebot3 controller.