6D Variable Virtual Fixtures for Telemanipulated Insertion Tasks

Telemanipulation enables humans to perform tasks in dangerous environments without exposing them to any risk. The COVID-19 pandemic sadly showed, that these environments can also include the treatment and interaction with infected patients. Since human-robot interactions demand for low interaction forces yet high precision, telemanipulation often results in a high mental workload for the operator. To overcome this, we present a virtual guidance approach to perform telemanipulated insertion tasks. A nasopharyngeal swap sampling procedure is taken as use case. We extend our previously presented approach by adding an additional position fixture, introducing distance-dependent variable stiffness values and guaranteeing stability using energy tanks. Based on RGB-D data, the operator is guided towards a desirable insertion line while approaching the nostril. The distance-dependent stiffness values increase the smoothness of the fixture. Since variable stiffness values can result in unstable behavior, energy tanks for the fixtures are introduced. Experiments show the improvements compared to our previous approach. Further, a comparison between guided and unguided samplings performed by an expert user gives a first impression of the improvements resulting from the fixture.