Development of electrical and control system of an unmanned ground vehicle for force feedback teleoperation

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Thesis Type: Postgraduate

Institution Of The Thesis: Middle East Technical University, Turkey

Approval Date: 2012

Thesis Language: English

Student: Akif Hacınecipoğlu

Co-Supervisor: ERHAN İLHAN KONUKSEVEN, AHMET BUĞRA KOKU

Abstract:

Teleoperation of an unmanned vehicle is a challenging task for human operators especially when the vehicle is out of line of sight. Improperly designed and applied display interfaces directly affect the operation performance negatively and even can result in catastrophic failures. If these teleoperation missions are human-critical then it becomes more important to improve the operator performance by decreasing workload, managing stress and improving situational awareness. This research aims to develop electrical and control system of an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) using an All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) and validate the development with investigation of the effects of force feedback devices on the teleoperation performance. After development, teleoperation tests are performed to verify that force feedback generated from the dynamic obstacle information of the environment improves teleoperation performance. Results confirm this statement and the developed UGV is verified for future research studies. Development of UGV, algorithms and real system tests are included in this thesis.