ThumbDriver: Telepresence Robot Control with a Finger-Worn Mouse

Abstract

ThumbDriver enables users to remotely operate a telepresence robot using an off-the-shelf finger-wearable mouse. The system carefully maps typical mouse actions to various robot operations, facilitating smooth and precise control. In a user study, we compared ThumbDriver with a keyboard-based control method. The results showed that ThumbDriver required significantly fewer actions to perform teleoperation tasks, leading to reduced average task completion times. Participants found ThumbDriver to be faster, more precise, and easier to learn and use. All participants expressed a preference for continuing to use ThumbDriver for operating telepresence robots.