Teleoperated driving (ToD) is increasingly considered as a fallback solution for autonomous driving. Up to now, ToD requires a highly reliable mobile network capable of transmitting multiple video streams with low latency. Recently, significant advancements have been made in vehicular sensors and perception algorithms, which have huge implications for the challenges faced in ToD. We envisage that a real-time digital twin that tracks the remote vehicle's environment will play a crucial role in reducing the required communication band-width and providing a more convenient teleoperator interface, ultimately enhancing safety of ToD in crowded environments. Furthermore, it would allow various degrees of cooperation between automated driving functionalities and human teleoperators. In this paper, the concept of digital twin for ToD is outlined and a proof of concept is implemented using a real-world vehicle simulator and a teleoperator hardware setup. A significant reduction in required bandwidth is reported by transmitting less video data and reconstructing the scene from the digital twin.

Efficient waste management is a defining feature of a future smart city and one of the core challenges to reduce the environmental impact of its inhabitants. Given the growing amount of waste that is discarded into public dustbins and the labour required for their maintenance, autonomous robots to empty the bins could help in mitigating those challenges. For this task, the mobile robotics platform MURMEL (Mobiler Urbaner Roboter zur Mülleimer EntLeerung) has been designed. However, the acceptance of this solution by the municipality and the public highly depends on the efficiency of task performance and the environmental impact of the system. To achieve that, we propose a communication framework involving smart dustbins, which inform a central planning entity about the filling level. A novel route planning algorithm is proposed based on the filling level communicated over LoRaWAN. It can avoid unavailing rides, where the robots cannot empty the dustbins due to its capacity limits and assembles a route to exploit the full capacity. We demonstrate the feasibility of our approach using a realistic simulation of 52 dustbins in an urban park, resulting in 13% less energy consumption, 29% less round-trips and a 42% increase in capacity utilization compared to a baseline route planning without communication.

Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are currently the preferred choice among energy storage systems for a wide range of applications due to their high energy density, long life span and cost effectiveness. However, in several high-power applications such as electric vehicles, the heat generation of Li-ion battery cells can cause several problems such as accelerated aging and thermal runaway. Although cooling systems are typically utilized to overcome these issues, they suffer from drawbacks such as uneven cooling of the battery cells as well as cumbersome architectures and high energy consumption. In this paper, we propose an active cell balancing (ACB) strategy to mitigate the impact of the temperature gradient on divergent aging of the cells with the goal of increasing the life span of a battery module. We explore balancing architectures dedicated to this goal and study their effectiveness via a simulation framework based on an electrochemical cell model, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) cooling model and a battery aging model. The experiments show that the life extension of the module is proportional to the amount of ACB circuit, which points toward cost-effective solutions for battery manufacturers. In addition, the results indicate further cost reduction from relaxed cooling system requirements. Our investigation on a 40-cell battery module with standard thermal gradient shows that the life span can be prolonged by about 2.8%. Finally, our extended analysis shows that a life cycle extension of 19.8% is possible with ACB if a relaxed thermal gradient constraint of 12.4°C is assumed.

Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication is an emerging technology which enables vehicles to share data, facilitating functions such as traffic information service, collision warning or cooperative control to potentially increase throughput and enhance road safety. However, the benefits of V2V communication during the early stages of market penetration, where communicating and non-communicating vehicles are co-existing, are not yet clear. This paper aims at quantifying the relationship between the penetration ratio of communicating vehicles and the additional safety that can be achieved thereby. We design a rule-based method for early detection of aggressive lane change behaviors using communicated motion data and evaluate its effectiveness according to different penetration ratios and traffic scenarios. Furthermore, we propose a proactive countermeasure which can be applied to mitigate the disruptive impact of erratic lane changes and analyze its performance in case different number of vehicles implement the measure. The results from a microscopic traffic simulator indicate that in partially-connected traffic, anomalies such as abrupt lane changes even of non-connected cars can be detected by observing the response of the following vehicles. In addition, by applying pre-braking as a countermeasure, traffic safety can be improved in terms of surrogate safety measures (SSM),

We present a virtual reality platform which addresses and integrates some of the currently challenging research topics in the field of virtual assembly: realistic and practical scenarios with several complex geometries, bimanual six-DoF haptic interaction for hands and arms, and intuitive navigation in large workspaces. We put an especial focus on our collision computation framework, which is able to display stiff and stable forces in 1 kHz using a combination of penalty- and constraint-based haptic rendering methods. Interaction with multiple arbitrary geometries is supported in realtime simulations, as well as several interfaces, allowing for collaborative training experiences. Performance results for an exemplary car assembly sequence which show the readiness of the system are provided.

Classic telepresence approaches allow a human to interact with a remote or a virtual reality environment (VR) with force feedback. Coupling with a remote robot can be used to work in dangerous environments without the human being on-site. The coupling with a VR system can be used for training and verification of task sequences or robotic actions.

Abstract-This article accompanies a video that presents a bimanual haptic device composed of two DLR/KUKA Light weight Robot (LWR) arms. The LWRs have similar dimensions to human arms, and can be operated in torque and position control mode at an update rate of 1kHz. The two robots are mounted behind the user, such that the intersecting workspace of the robots and the human arms becomes maximal. In order to enhance user interaction, various hand interfaces and additional tactile feedback devices can be used together with the robots. The presented system is equipped with a thorough safety architecture that assures safe operation for human and robot. Additionally, sophisticated control strategies improve performance and guarantee stability. The introduced haptic system is well suited for versatile applications in remote and virtual environments, especially for large unsealed movements.

Extravehicular activities (EVAs) are a hazardous and expensive procedural method to operate in outer space. A possible support or alternative for manned missions in terms of on-orbit servicing are telemanipulation-systems. Whether or not such systems can actually achieve the efficiency of suited astronauts remains a central issue in telemanipulation research. Both scenarios, extravehicular activities as well as telemanipulation-systems, are restricted by different environmental factors, especially in terms of tasks that require fine motor skills. For suited astronauts, different factors, such as restricted mobility and reduced tactile feedback through the gloves, as well as a restricted field of view, impair fine motor skills. On the other hand, time delay, limited degrees of freedom and restricted haptic and visual feedback are amongst the factors, which may cause impairment of performance during the work with telemanipulation-systems. In order to compare the efficiency of both scenarios, a testbed equipped with typical mounting tasks was developed. An experimental study showed that the testbed is a valid measure of fine motor skills. In two follow-up studies, the influence of some factors debilitating fine motor performance in telemanipulation-systems and simulated extra-vehicular activities was analysed and compared.

Telepresence-systems have the potential to take on an important role in on-orbit servicing scenarios. In comparison to manned missions, these systems offer a safer way to operate in outer space. One of the main goals of telepresence research is to learn whether immersive telepresence systems can achieve the efficiency of astronauts in typical mounting tasks, considering that astronauts' mobility is restricted by a range of factors including microgravity and space suits. In order to determine whether a telepresence system is more efficient in performing tasks compared to suited astronauts, an experimental study comparing both scenarios was accomplished.

This paper generalizes the Time Domain Passivity Control concept originally introduced by J.-H. Ryu et al. (2004) in order to work for multi-degree of freedom (DoF) haptic systems with time delay. Its energy computation (named passivity observer) factors in the phase shift caused by time delay, and is improved by an energy estimation. Moreover, the variable damping of the passivity controller is generalized such that weighting by the mass matrix of the haptic device is possible. This transformation takes into account the direction-dependent inertia of multi-DoF haptic devices. Furthermore, a stability boundary for this damping is introduced for one as well as for several DoF allowing for high energy dissipation. Additionally, it is briefly shown that one single multi-DoF Cartesian passivity controller is advantageous compared to independent single-DoF passivity controllers in each joint of the haptic device. Finally, the generalized Time Domain Passivity Controller is experimentally verified using the DLR light weight robot arm as haptic device.

A new lossy compression method is proposed for haptic (force, velocity) data as exchanged in bilateral telepresence systems. The method is based on the passive extrapolative compression strategy proposed in the work of Kuschel et al. (2006). The innovation is that the extrapolations do not have a stiff horizon, but are triggered by considerable changes (events) in the target environment. This enables longer average extrapolation horizons and thus, higher compression. Experiments are conducted using two DLR light weight robots. The results indicate that the method outperforms older implementations.

This video presents a telepresence system which enables a human operator to explore a remote environment by means of a multimodal man machine interface and rollin' JUSTIN as teleoperator. The man machine interface allows for bimanual, dexterous manipulation and, through two different operating modi of the man machine interface, wide area movement as well. A bimanual assembly task, consisting of grasping a connector, opening and closing it again, is shown in this video.

In this paper, lossy-compression methods for haptic (velocity and force) data as exchanged in telepresence or virtual reality systems are introduced. Based on the proposed interpolative and extrapolative compression strategies, arbitrary passive compression algorithms can be implemented. The derived algorithms do not affect the stability of the presence system. Two algorithms were implemented and experimentally evaluated. The results show that constant data-rate savings of 89% still lead to a perceptually transparent presence system.

Telepresence systems are often deployed in scenarios where communication bandwidth is limited. Consequently, data exchanged between operator and teleoperator has to be reduced. In case of haptic telepresence, data reduction has an influence on the stability of the overall system. This paper provides a step towards a systematic framework for communication data bandwidth reduction in haptic telepresence systems discussing stability for a class of lossy data reduction (LDR) algorithms. Simulation and experimental results validate the efficacy