Teleoperation methods and enhancement techniques for mobile robots: A comprehensive survey

In a world with rapidly growing levels of automation, robotics is playing an increasingly significant role in every aspect of human endeavour. In particular, many types of mobile robots are increasingly being utilised in places and for tasks that are difficult and dangerous for humans. Although the vision of fully autonomous mobile robotic platforms that can perform complex tasks without direct guidance from a human operator is compelling, the reality is that the current state of robotics technology is still a long way from being able to achieve this capability outside of very narrowly constrained contexts. Technology advancement for improved mobile robotic teleoperation and remote control is vital to enable robotic vehicles to operate with increasing autonomy levels while allowing for effective remote operation when task complexity is too great for the autonomous systems. Being motivated to bridge this gap, we present a review of existing teleoperation methods and enhancement techniques for control of mobile robots. After defining teleoperation, we provide a detailed review that analyses, categorises, and summarises existing mobile robot teleoperation methods. Next, we highlight existing enhancement techniques that have been applied to these teleoperation methods, along with their relative advantages and disadvantages. Finally, several promising future research directions are identified. The paper concludes with a discussion of research challenges and future research possibilities. (c) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.