Virtual Reality and Tele-Operation: a Common Framework
Didier VERNA
LRDE / EPITA
14-16 rue Voltaire,
94276 Le Kremlin-Bicˆetre, France
http://www.lrde.epita.fr/
<didier@lrde.epita.fr>
ABSTRACT
This paper proposes an overview of a study that con-
ceptually unify the fields of virtual reality and tele-
operation, by analyzing the notion of “assistance” to
the operator of a virtual reality or tele-operation sys-
tem. This analysis demonstrates that cases of assis-
tance that are usually considered to belong to virtual
reality are not conceptually different from what has
been done in tele-operation since long before virtual
reality appeared. With this common framework for
virtual reality and tele-operation, we hope to provide
a theoretical formalization of many ideas acquired em-
pirically, and hence a basis onto which further discus-
sion could be undertaken in a constructive manner.
Keywords: Virtual Reality, Tele-Operation, Assis-
tance
INTRODUCTION
Virtual reality and tele-operation have been get-
ting closer to each other these last years, on two dif-
ferent plans. The first plan is related to the notion of
immersion: it is now possible, thanks to virtual reality
devices, to make the operator have the feeling of being
physically present in the distant working environment.
This brings interesting opportunities to improve the
operator’s efficiency in performing his task. The sec-
ond plan is related to the notion of assistance: one
major problem we are faced with, considering immer-
sion, is that current immersive technology is heavy,
expensive, and can be a handicap instead of a help
for the operator. The question of knowing whether
immersion is essential or not brought up interesting
debates [3]; people demonstrated that partial immer-
sion is often enough, if not better than full immersion
[16], people also demonstrated that there is a differ-
ence b e tween subjective and objective presence, which
actually means that cognitive immersion is not the
panacea [14].
One important relation between the notions of im-
mersion and assistance is that assisting the operator is,
among other things, a way to compensate for the lack
of effic iency when interacting with a complex immer-
sive system. Currently, scientists are acquiring many
empirical results related to this idea, and make the
notion of assistance a crucial one.
In this paper, we also manipulate these ideas, but
from a conceptual point of view. Namely, we ask our-
selves what exactly are the conceptual relations be-
tween virtual reality and tele-operation, and what ex-
actly is the status of assistance, when tele-operation
applications use virtual reality concepts. The analyzis
we provide for the notion of assistance to the operator
demonstrates that cases of assistance that are usually
considered to belong to virtual reality are not con-
ceptually different from what has been done in tele-
operation since long before virtual reality appeared.
In a first step, we propose to analyze several known
cases of assistance in virtual reality systems. In a sec-
ond step, we show how these cases of assistance revert
to ones that have been known in tele-operation for a
long time.
THE L
i
SA MODEL
In order to analyze the assistance processes in vir-
tual reality systems, we need to describe such systems.
The model we use is called L
i
SA (acronym for “Local-
ization and Semantics of Assistance”) and is shown in
figure 1.
This model is actually well known in robotics: a
tele-“operator” is using an “interface” to control, thr-
ough a computer and / or network “system”, a robotic
“manipulator” in a distant or inaccessible “environ-
ment”. However, we interpret this model in a more
general fashion: this model is not only suitable to de-
scribe tele-operation situations, but also virtual real-
ity systems implementing synthetic worlds: in that
case (in which the interface is very likely to be the
same), the “manipulator” would stand for the oper-
ator’s avatar in the virtual world, and the “environ-
ment” would be the virtual one.
Another difference with the traditional interpreta-
tion of this model is related to the notion of assistance:
we are more interested in the information conveyed