Affiliations: Institute of Automation, University of Bremen, Germany | [x] University of Lyon, France | [y] Université François-Rabelais de Tours, Laboratoire d'Informatique, Polytech Tours, France
Correspondence:
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Address for correspondence: Johannes Feuser, Otto-Hahn-Allee, NW 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany. E-mail: feuser@iat.uni-bremen.de.
Abstract: Mapped Virtual Reality (MVR) is defined as an extreme simplified, but in the same time reflecting the main spatial correlations, representation of the real objects within a robot workspace, including humans and robot links. The MVR can be effectively used for online distance observation during the operation of service robots in an unstructured environment – distances can be calculated instead of measured in the real world. To update the robot posture only information from internal position sensors is needed. So the task of external sensors (e.g. cameras) can be reduced to the detection of new objects, which have to be mapped into the MVR as simple shapes, covering the real objects, instead of observing all obstacles in the workspace and measuring distances. Such task distribution increases the safety of manipulation by reduction of technical complexity.
