Oculus Quest Robot

How to use the Oculus Quest Robot robot skill

Use the Oculus Meta Quest 2 VR Headset to view any robot's camera and control any robot’s servos with your hands or controllers. Servos can be attached to finger movements, hand movements, controllers, and buttons. Additionally, there is a built-in remote desktop to control ARC without having to remove the VR headset. This robot skill requires the Meta Quest 2 app installed from the Oculus Store to control a robot. 

Why Control Robots From VR?

While it is exciting to use this robot skill and have a robot mimic your movements with VR accessories, this is also a preview of future technology in the workplace. Robots can perform many jobs, but the computing power to automate the task is unavailable. Today, VR technology is advanced enough to allow humans to control robots remotely and accomplish tasks. This means, for example, that warehouse workers can work from the comfort and safety of their homes while performing improved outcomes by controlling robots remotely. As artificial intelligence improves, robots will require less human intervention, but humans will still be needed to help the robot when it gets stuck. This means many robots can be controlled by one person, complementing Synthiam's approach with our Exosphere product.

Imagine people working from home while operating robots remotely in dangerous locations, such as mining, disaster recovery, or space exploration. With Synthiam's agnostic approach, our platform can program any robot. With the addition of virtual reality remote control, we are saving lives and improving job safety. There is no better time to familiarize yourself with this technology at home, school, or the workplace. 

Oculus Meta Quest App

Get the Oculus Quest Robot App here: https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/5097609970275847

When the oculus meta quest robot control app is loaded, you will find yourself on the bridge of a spaceship. The left controller can move your view around the ship to explore. The right controller can interact with the menu that will connect to the robot. 

1) Enter the IP Address of the Synthiam ARC software. The robot skill will show public and private IP addresses you can enter in this field. Using this robot skill on your local network, use the local IP address. If connecting over the internet through a port opened on your router, use the public IP address.

2) The port can be edited, but the default value is always 8082.

3) Pressing the connect button will load the robot control view.

About The Oculus Meta Quest 2

The Oculus Meta Quest 2 (marketed since November 2021 as Meta Quest 2) is a low-cost virtual reality (VR) headset developed by Facebook Reality Labs (formerly Oculus). It is the successor to the company's previous headset, the Oculus Quest. The Quest 2 was unveiled on September 16, 2020, during Facebook Connect 7.

As with its predecessor, the Quest 2 can run as a standalone headset with an internal, Android-based operating system not requiring a PC or high-cost graphics card. It is a refresh of the original Oculus Quest with a similar design but lighter weight, updated internal specifications, a display with a higher refresh rate and per-eye resolution, and updated Oculus Touch controllers.

Main Window

The main window displays real-time tracking information of Quest input devices. Either the controllers or hand detection can be used. If the hand tracking is being used, each finger position starting with the thumb, will be displayed and the hand's position. The controller location, analog stick, buttons, and trigger positions will be displayed if controllers are used.

Controller Inputs

Both hand tracking and controller tracking can control their respective servos. When the controllers are set aside, and hand tracking is detected, the configured hand servos will enable. The hand servos will be disabled when used, and the controller servos will become enabled. This switches automatically based on what control method you use. Switching control methods can be done on the fly.

Configuration

Press the configure button on the robot skill to view the configuration screen for this robot skill.




Headset



1) The servos for X (horizontal), Y (vertical), and Z (tilt) can be assigned. These servos will move with your headset to look around. Generally, you will want these servos attached to a camera so you can look around at the environment with the headset. 

2) The option to pause servos when the robot is moving will pause the headset servos while any Movement Panel is being moved. When this is checked, the headset servos are only usable when the robot is not moving. This is useful to reduce motion sickness while the robot is moving.


Left Hand & Right Hand


1) The position tracking group will bind servos to the hand's position. The X is horizontal, Y is vertical, and Z is the distance outward from your body.

2) The finger tracking group allows assigning servos to each finger. Gripping each finger into a fist will move the respective servos. This is useful when using a robot hand, such as the InMoov, to control each finger individually.

Left Controller & Right Controller


1) The position tracking will bind servos to the hand's position. The X is horizontal, Y is vertical, and Z is the distance outward from your body.

2) Triggers and analog sticks can also control servos. The triggers are index trigger and hand trigger. The analog stick for each controller can be assigned servos.

3) Scripts can be assigned to the A and B buttons when pressed or released.


General


1) The TCP ports for servo Server and Remote Desktop are read-only. They cannot be changed,

2) Enable/Disable the remote desktop feature. There is no password protection on this feature, so be cautious if you enable it. Do not enable this feature on public networks. 

Remote Desktop

1) The remote desktop allows you to move the mouse with the right controller. You can use the trigger to left-click and the hand-grab to right-click. The remote desktop feature does not provide any authentication, so only use this on private networks.

2) Press the menu button on the left controller to exit the remote desktop mode.

3) The analog stick on the left controller can be used to move around the floating screenshot window.

Robot Control

1) When viewing the robot control, pressing the menu button on the left controller will load the menu to enable and disable specific servos.

2) In the popup menu, you can adjust the camera depth for your comfort.

3) The return to lobby option will do just that, return you to the main menu lobby.

4) If enabled in the robot skill configuration, the remote desktop can be used to control ARC remotely through the VR headset.