Dynamic kinesthetic boundary for haptic teleoperation of aerial robotic vehicles

This paper introduces a novel dynamic kinesthetic boundary to aid a pilot to navigate an aerial robotic vehicle through a cluttered environment. Classical haptic teleoperation interfaces for aerial vehicles utilize force feedback to provide the pilot with a haptic feel of the robot's interaction with an environment. The proposed approach constructs a dynamic kinesthetic boundary on the master device that provides the pilot with hard boundaries in the haptic workspace to indicate approaching obstacles. An advantage of the proposed approach is that when the vehicle is flying free of obstacles, then the haptic feedback of the joystick can be used to provide a more natural feel of the vehicle dynamics. Furthermore, rather than a gradual onset of virtual potential forces that are felt in the classical approaches, a pilot encountering the dynamic kinesthetic boundary is immediately aware of the presence of the obstacle and can act accordingly. The approach is implemented on an admittance haptic joystick to ensure that the haptic boundaries are faithfully rendered. We prove that in the case of perfect velocity tracking, the proposed algorithm will ensure the vehicle never colliding with the environment. Experiments were conducted on a robotic platform and the results provide verification of the novel approach.