Quest Teleop Kit
Overview
Initially we were excited about leader-follower due to the potential for force feedback, which theoretically lets the operator feel forces and respond in kind. However, we soon found this to be an ergonomic nightmare.
Restricted field of view - the operator is forced to look at the task scene from a 45° angle without the ability to move or adjust field of view.
Exhaustion - the leader arms are heavy, meaning the operator is constantly moving a pile of metal to do very light tasks. Plus the thumb and index finger are pushing against the gearbox of the leader handle. Even with gravity compensation on this is quickly exhausting.
Kinematic mismatch - the operator is always craning over to hug the leader to better control it, but due to the mismatch in human and robot kinematics people can do this at best for an hour. Arm bands were developed to help with some motions, but that made starting and stopping episodes and resetting the scene extremely painful.
This is why Anvil started investing in the Quest platform. Quest is affordable and easily accessible globally, making it an ideal platform for the open source robotics community. Anvil implemented a headless pose-streaming APK, capable of streaming 180 poses per second from 2 controllers.
After more than a hundred hours logged in teleoperation and device testing, we recommend a setup utilizing the Quest 3 and the Quest Pro Controllers.
We upgraded to the Pro Controllers; these controllers run onboard, inside-out, visual inertial odometry, which means they're immune to the occlusion problem in pose tracking.
We added an additional 30W power delivery adapter for the Quest data cable to keep the headset charged for long data collection shifts.
We opted for a wired USB bridge to the Anvil Devbox giving us ADB controls and instrumentation, which makes development, monitoring, and automation easier.
We also implemented TCP communication over the USB-ADB bridge, which lets us stream controller poses at 90Hz per controller with negligible jitter and latency, bypassing the local network.
The Quest 3S is usable for basic teleop, and is likely okay for at-home hobbyists, but is not a platform Anvil formally supports at this time. The difference in cost is not huge, so we recommend teams simply upgrade. We may support Quest 3S at a later time.
Media
Packing List
Details available at the links below:
Related Guides
Technical Specs
Headset Version
Quest 3 (not the 3S)
Controller Version
Quest Pro Controller
Headset Battery Life
Infinite (plugged in)
Controller Battery Life
8-15 hours
Headset to Devbox Connection
USB (with TCP over ADB bridge)
Controller to Quest Connection
Bluetooth
Controller Range
15 feet
Pose Frequency
90Hz per controller
Resources
APK access is provided for customers of the Anvil Devbox and Quest Teleop Kit. If your Quest 3 did not come with the APK pre-installed, please contact [email protected] with your order number.
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