Enhancing Teleoperator Awareness of Gripper-Object Interaction by Modulating Control Button Stiffness

This study addresses the challenge of limited dexterity in teleoperation tasks caused by the absence of sensory feedback and visual occlusions. Our approach anticipates interactions by virtually enlarging the robot’s gripper and calculating the overlapping volume with nearby objects. To intuitively convey this information to the operator in real time, we employ haptic feedback by adjusting the stiffness of the controller’s buttons based on the proximity of the detected objects. The system has been tested in a simulation environment with the aim of achieving a good position to grasp a target. In situations where the target was not fully grasped, operators using haptic feedback reached the "Best" position 28% faster than those without it, indicating enhanced situational awareness and control. The percentage of the target inside the gripper was notably higher, and centering and alignment errors were minimized, suggesting more precise grasping with less damage to the robot or the object. Although the collision frequency remained similar, the severity of collisions—both maximum and average—was reduced when haptic feedback was employed. In situations where the target was fully grasped, there are minor differences when performing with or without haptic feedback. These findings suggest that haptic feedback improves the user’s awareness of the robot’s interactions with its environment and enhance the operator’s ability to make informed decisions.