Dual-Quadruped Bimanual Teleoperation with Camera-Frame Control

Shengzhi Wang* 1,3, Vincent Schorp* 1, Chen Song* 2, Yuni Fuchioka1, Andrei Cramariuc1, Marco Hutter1, Kwok Wai Samuel Au2,3

*Equal contribution

1Robotic Systems Lab, ETH Zurich

2Multi-Scale Medical Robotics Center, AIR@InnoHK

3Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Paper arXiv

Abstract

Robotic mobile manipulators hold significant potential to enhance safety and efficiency across a wide range of tasks in difficult or remote environments. While full autonomy remains a challenge due to the complexity of real-world scenarios, teleoperation offers a practical alternative by incorporating human intelligence into remote robotic systems. This paper introduces a teleoperated bimanual system that coordinates two independent, mobile, single-arm robots. A movable arm-mounted stereo camera provides dynamic and adjustable viewpoints, enhancing the operator's depth perception and enabling precise manipulation even in challenging scenarios, such as inserting a plug, pouring liquid from one container to another, or opening a backpack. Using a surgical teleoperation platform allows force feedback integration, further enhancing operator control, offering tangible haptic awareness, and enabling fine-grained interaction with the environment.

Experiment Videos

Lever and Valve Turning Experiment

In this experiment, the relevance of the proposed setup for industrial tasks is demonstrated. Two robots interact with a wall-mounted lever and valve, typical of industrial appliances.

Plug in Experiment

This experiment highlights the advantages of the adjustable viewing angle and force feedback, which are paramount for such a task. It involves unplugging and plugging the power cord of a desk lamp into a multi-socket power outlet.

Water Pouring Experiment

This experiment compares the dual-robot setup with a single-robot configuration for pouring liquid between two beakers. It also highlights the importance of controlling the manipulation arm in the camera frame.

Dual ANYmal ablation

Single ANYmal ablation

Bag Opening Experiment

This experiment demonstrates the advantage of a bimanual system and the movable camera. To accomplish the task, the robots work together to open a backpack lying on a pedestal and extract an object inside.

BibTeX

@article{tbd,
  author    = {tbd},
  title     = {tbd},
  journal   = {tbd},
  year      = {2025},
}