Effect of map indication on remote control of a mobile robot

We are now developing an mobile robot in the art museum, to appreciate the art works from anywhere via Internet by remote control with WWW browser. This paper describes a human interface for interactive remote control of a mobile robot. We focus on the effect of the environmental map complementarily indicated with the image captured by the robot vision on the remote control interface. We made some experiments to verify the role of the map through the requested commands, the robot state and the gaze points of the operator. As the experimental results, we found that the importance of the map depends on information including the image and complexity of the environment. It implies that the dynamic re-configuration of the remote control interface driven by the environmental situations may be effective for the operator from home or office.