  Mobile manipulators in the home can provide increased autonomy to individuals
with severe motor impairments, who often cannot complete activities of daily
living (ADLs) without the help of a caregiver. Teleoperation of an assistive
mobile manipulator could enable an individual with motor impairments to
independently perform self-care and household tasks, yet limited motor function
can impede one's ability to interface with a robot. In this work, we present a
unique inertial-based wearable assistive interface, embedded in a familiar
head-worn garment, for individuals with severe motor impairments to teleoperate
and perform physical tasks with a mobile manipulator. We evaluate this wearable
interface with both able-bodied (N = 16) and individuals with motor impairments
(N = 2) for performing ADLs and everyday household tasks. Our results show that
the wearable interface enabled participants to complete physical tasks with low
error rates, high perceived ease of use, and low workload measures. Overall,
this inertial-based wearable serves as a new assistive interface option for
control of mobile manipulators in the home.
