Enhancing a Telerobotics Java Tool with Augmented Reality

This paper describes the integration of an Augmented Reality service into our telerobotics system ASSET. ASSET is a teleoperation tool written in Java offering the services of simulation, 3D visualization, devices management and Java3D/VRML2.0 models loading. ASSET allows the definition of behaviors for each simulation object, and hence, entities sharing the same environment can have different degrees of autonomy. The Augmented Reality service that we have integrated uses the Java binding of the ARToolkit in order to allow operators and autonomous robots to gather information about the mission. Information points are represented in the real world by visual patterns, which trigger actions to be executed by the robot or activate virtual objects display when recognized by the Augmented Reality Service.