Allocentric teleoperation for variable perspective multirobot coordination

The human brain can process spatial action through either egocentric (self-centered) or allocentric (environment-centered) perspectives. Despite this cognitive ability, teleoperation of robotic systems has been predominantly egocentric, wherein operators control a single robot from an inside-out perspective with limited situational overview. This paper proposes a scalable paradigm for simultaneously teleoperating multiple robotic systems from an allocentric perspective that enables a single operator to solve complex collaborative tasks. The perceptual information of all robots is fused into a joint virtual environment, which the operator can view from a top-down perspective to control the robots similar to puppets. We investigated differences between egocentric and allocentric multirobot teleoperation using both simulated and real robots. In the simulation study, study participants ( n = 15) reported a higher sense of embodiment over robot bodies when using egocentric control, enabling them to perform more precise manipulation after initial training. Using allocentric control, participants achieved speed increases of 84% in a parallelizable locomotion task and 50% in a situational overview task compared with egocentric control. Participants reported improved system usability and overview with allocentric control, and no significant differences in sense of agency were measured. These results were validated in a real-world study with two physical robots ( n = 6) and underscore the effectiveness of our allocentric teleoperation framework as a complementary approach to egocentric robotic teleoperation. Interfaces that support smooth switching between allocentric and egocentric control therefore enable operators to leverage the advantages of both paradigms depending on their specific task.