Supporting Complex Robot Behaviors with Simple Interaction Tools

The topic of Human-Robot Interaction is currently widely researched. This is the field in technology that aims to improve interaction between humans and robots in such a way that it is beneficial for the society. It combines research from various different disciplines such as mechanical engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, psychology, biology, etcetera (Sheridan, 2016). Robotics and human-robot interaction are finding great use for the AI subfield of machine learning. Robot perception, behaviour, and interactivity between several robots can all be developed using machine learning.

Journal of Field Robotics, 2016

Operating a high degree of freedom mobile manipulator, such as a humanoid, in a field scenario requires constant situational awareness, capable perception modules, and effective mechanisms for interactive motion planning and control. A well-designed operator interface presents the operator with enough context to quickly carry out a mission and the flexibility to handle unforeseen operating scenarios robustly. By contrast, an unintuitive user interface can increase the risk of catastrophic operator error by overwhelming the user with unnecessary information. With these principles in mind, we present the philosophy and design decisions behind Director-the open-source user interface developed by Team MIT to pilot the Atlas robot in the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC). At the heart of Director is an integrated task execution system that specifies sequences of actions needed to achieve a substantive task, such as drilling a wall or climbing a staircase. These task sequences, developed a priori, make online queries to automated perception and planning algorithms with outputs that can be reviewed by the operator and executed by our whole-body controller. Our use of Director at the DRC resulted in efficient high-level task operation while being fully competitive with approaches focusing on teleoperation by highly-trained operators. We discuss the primary interface elements that comprise the Director and provide analysis of its successful use at the DRC.

InTech eBooks, 2010

… of Complexity and System Science. Springer, 2009

Robots are poised to fill a growing number of roles in today's society, from factory automation to service applications to medical care and entertainment. While robots were initially used in repetitive tasks where all human direction is given a priori, they are becoming involved in increasingly more complex and less structured tasks and activities, including interaction with people required to complete those tasks. This complexity has prompted the entirely new endeavor of Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), the study of how humans interact with robots, and how best to design and implement robot systems capable of accomplishing interactive tasks in human environments. The fundamental goal of HRI is to develop the principles and algorithms for robot systems that make them capable of direct, safe and effective interaction with humans. Many facets of HRI research relate to and draw from insights and principles from psychology, communication, anthropology, philosophy, and ethics, making HRI an inherently interdisciplinary endeavor.

AIAA 1st Intelligent Systems Technical Conference, 2004

Our multimodal interface integrates speech recognition, natural language understanding, spatial reasoning and human cognitive models for completing specific tasks and for perspective-taking in locative oriented tasks. With natural language and gestures, we believe human-robot interaction and communication is facilitated. Instead of concentrating on the various modalities of the interface, users can concentrate on the task at hand. Likewise, by incorporating human cognitive models for handling spatial information and perspective-taking, as well as for specific task completion, a better match with the expectations that humans acquire from their human-human interactions should be obtained, further facilitating cooperation and collaboration in human-robot interactions.

Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making, 2011

The past decade has seen a proliferation in the use of robots in a broad range of complex domains, such as urban search and rescue, military operations (including explosive ordnance disposal and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance), scientific exploration in underwater and space expeditions, law enforcement (e.g., bomb squads), manufacturing, and health care (e.g., telerobotic surgery). Remotely controlled ground, aerial, sea-surface, and underwater robotic vehicles are serving as tools to safely extend the sensory and psychomotor capabilities of humans to remote environments while keeping humans safe. More importantly, with the ever-increasing technological sophistication in their design and capabilities, robots are becoming more than mere tools. They now can be seen as quasi-team members whose tasks and behaviors must be integrated with the task requirements and expectations of their human teammates. Yet without the necessary research base to inform design, sizeable investments will likely be made into developing robotic systems that are ineffective or, at best, not optimal. Toward this end, the goal of this two-part special issue is to present examples of the latest research on human-robot interaction that demonstrate how theories and empirical findings can be translated into practical, useful guidance for improving human-robot team performance across various domains.

Systems, Man and Cybernetics …, 2003

This paper provides a set of definitions that form a framework for describing the types of awareness that humans have of robot activities and the knowledge that robots have of the commands given them by humans. As a case study, we applied this human-robot interaction (HRI) awareness framework to our analysis of the HRI approaches used at an urban search and rescue competition. We determined that most of the critical incidents (e.g., damage done by robots to the test arena) were directly attributable to lack of one or more kinds of HRI awareness.

Systems, Man and …, 2003

A human-robot interface for a mobile robot was extended to include a discrete geodesic dome called a Sensory EgoSphere (SES) The SES is a two-dimensional data structure, centered on the robot's coordinate frame. The SES provides the robot's perspective of a remote environment via images, sonar, and laser range finder representations. I t was proposed that the SES would enhance the general interface usability by decreasing perceived workload and increasing situational awareness. A human factors evaluation was performed to evaluate the established hypothesis. Novice users participated in the evaluation. The purpose of this paper is to review some of the evaluation results.

Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Part A: …, 2005