Spatial teleoperation of legged vehicles

A method of using a spatial controller to a vehicle comprising:

• receiving, at a user interface device from a spatial controller being held by an operator, linear velocity data and angular velocity data generated from the operator moving the spatial controller with respect to a global reference frame, wherein movement of the spatial controller is representative of one or more target velocities of a part of a legged vehicle;
• transforming the linear velocity data and the angular velocity data into a spatial controller reference frame defined with respect to the spatial controller as related to the user interface device;
• computing a target linear velocity and a target angular velocity of the part of the vehicle in a user interface reference frame, wherein the target linear velocity of the part of the vehicle in the user interface reference frame is derived from the linear velocity data of the spatial controller in the spatial controller reference frame, and wherein the target angular velocity of the part of the vehicle in the user interface reference frame is derived from the angular velocity data of the spatial controller in the spatial controller reference frame;
• subsequent to computing the target linear velocity and the target angular velocity based on transforming the linear velocity and the angular velocity, transforming the target linear velocity and the target angular velocity in the user reference frame into a vehicle reference frame defined with respect to the vehicle, wherein the target linear velocity is proportional to a linear velocity of the spatial controller caused by user movement and the target angular velocity is proportional to an angular velocity of the spatial controller caused by the user movement;
• and
• sending data indicating the target linear velocity and the target angular velocity to the vehicle, wherein the data comprises a command that causes the part of the vehicle to move in accordance with transformed values of the target linear velocity and the target angular velocity.

A system for teleoperating a vehicle, the system comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• one or more storage media storing instructions that, when executed, by the one or more processors perform operations comprising:
• receiving, at a user interface device from a spatial controller being held by an operator, angular displacement data generated from the operator moving the spatial controller with respect to a global reference frame, wherein movement of the spatial controller is representative of one or more target velocities of a legged vehicle;
• transforming the angular displacement data into a spatial controller reference frame defined with respect to the spatial controller as related to the user interface device;
• identifying, from the angular displacement data, a first subset of the angular displacement data included in a first horizontal plane of the spatial controller reference frame;
• identifying, from the angular displacement data, a second subset of the angular displacement data that is perpendicular to the first horizontal plane;
• computing, using the first subset of the angular displacement data, a target linear velocity of the vehicle in a second horizontal plane in a user interface reference frame of a user interface device controlling the vehicle;
• computing, using the second subset of the angular displacement data, a target angular velocity of the vehicle in the second horizontal plane;
• subsequent to computing the target linear velocity and the target angular velocity based on transforming the angular displacement data, transforming the target linear velocity and the target angular velocity in the user interface reference frame into a vehicle reference frame defined with respect to the vehicle, wherein the target linear velocity is proportional to a linear velocity of the spatial controller caused by user movement and the target angular velocity is proportional to an angular velocity of the spatial controller caused by the user movement;
• and
• sending data indicating the target linear velocity and the target angular velocity to the vehicle, wherein the data causes the vehicle to move in accordance with transformed values of the target linear velocity and the target angular velocity.