Supporting Perception of Weight through Motion-induced Sensory Conflicts in Robot Teleoperation

In this paper, we design and evaluate a novel form of visually-simulated haptic feedback cue for communicating weight in robot teleoperation. We propose that a visuo-proprioceptive cue results from inconsistencies created between the user's visual and proprioceptive senses when the robot's movement differs from the movement of the user's input. In a user study where participants teleoperate a six-DoF robot arm, we demonstrate the feasibility of using such a cue for communicating weight in four telemanipulation tasks to enhance user experience and task performance.