A Go Where You Look Tele-autonomous Rough Terrain Mobile Robot

This paper describes an extension of previous work on an eye gaze/ head tracking control of a four wheel drive, rough terrain wheelchair (for the ‘adventurous’ disabled), provided with three levels of control which permit a safe teleautonomous style navigation. Here a remote tele-autonomous mode is tested with an eye gaze/ head track system and experimental results reported. In essence, the four wheel drive wheelchair could be any rough terrain vehicle such as a bulldozer or excavation machine where the operator’s hands can be freed for other teleoperated manipulation tasks. Alternatively, a disabled person with only eye gaze control could drive a robotic vehicle, say a lawn mower, from a remote location. Video sequences of the system in full operation will be shown at presentation.