Exploration of underinvestigated indoor environment based on mobile robot and mixed reality

Abstract

Mobile robots allow human to explore impassable or unsafe indoor locations remotely. There are a large number of scenarios where the implementation of mobile robots is the only way to successfully complete them. Herewith, human-robot interaction is the key factor that determines the efficiency of overall mission accomplishment. This paper presents a real-time approach for remote exploration of underinvestigated indoor environment conducted by human-robot interaction. The approach is based on the mobile robot and mixed reality. We have chosen a differential drive mobile robot platform called Plato and mixed reality glasses Microsoft Hololens for experimental investigation of the proposed approach. Our paper demonstrates the results of experimental investigations of the proposed approach. The results have shown that the proposed approach is helpful, intuitive and convenient for spatial understanding and improves natural interaction both with a mobile robot and remote environment. Moreover, our approach is able to significantly increase the speed of indoor environment exploration.