Cooperative Navigation for Mixed Human–Robot Teams Using Haptic Feedback

Abstract

In this paper, we present a novel cooperative navigation control for human-robot teams. Assuming that a human wants to reach a final location in a large environment with the help of a mobile robot, the robot must steer the human from the initial to the target position. The challenges posed by cooperative human-robot navigation are typically addressed by using haptic feedback via physical interaction. In contrast to that, in this paper we describe a different approach, in which the human-robot interaction is achieved via wearable vibrotactile armbands. In the proposed work the subject is free to decide her/his own pace. A warning vibrational signal is generated by the haptic armbands when a large deviation with respect to the desired pose is detected by the robot. The proposed method has been evaluated in a large indoor environment, where fifteen blindfolded human subjects were asked to follow the haptic cues provided by the robot. The participants had to reach a target area, while avoiding static and dynamic obstacles. Experimental results revealed that the blindfolded subjects were able to avoid the obstacles and safely reach the target in all of the performed trials. A comparison is provided between the results obtained with blindfolded users and experiments performed with sighted people.

Wearable Haptics for Remote Social Walking

“…Due to the aforementioned considerations and since our aim is to design an intuitive and non-obtrusive device which could be easily worn, we concentrated on the development of vibrotactile anklets. Starting from the results presented by Scheggi et al in [27], we decided to use the bilateral configuration, that required two vibro-tactile interfaces, one per ankle.…”

Polar Cooperative Navigation Algorithm for Multi-Unmanned Underwater Vehicles Considering Communication Delays

“…After broadcasting through the water, this information is received by the follower UUV at t 6 . The underwater acoustic delay can be described as follows [14,15]. $\Delta t_1=t_2-t_1,$ $\Delta t_2=t_3-t_2,$ $\Delta t_3=t_4-t_3,$ $\Delta t_4=t_5-t_4,$ $\Delta t_5=t_6-t_5,$ $\Delta t_6=t_6-t_1,$ where $\Delta t_1$ is the transmission time of the acoustic signal from the leader UUV to the follower UUV; $\Delta t_2$ is the reaction time for the follower UUV to respond to the leader UUV through the USBL; $\Delta t_3$ is the transmission time for the acoustic signal from the follower UUV to the leader UUV; $\Delta t_4$ is the calculation time for the leader UUV to obtain the relative position between the leader UUV and the follower UUV through USBL; $\Delta t_5$ is the transmission time for the acoustic signal from the leader UUV to the follower UUV; $\Delta t_6$ is the total underwater acoustic delay during a measurement cycle.…”

“…Many novel algorithms have been proposed to achieve the cooperative navigation of multi-robots in non-polar regions [12,13,14], but none of them are suitable for multi-UUVs in the polar region. Some researchers [15,16] proposed a leader-follower UUV cooperative navigation with acoustic communication time delay compensation as an approach.…”

Design and Evaluation of a Wearable Haptic Device for Skin Stretch, Pressure, and Vibrotactile Stimuli

“…W EARABLE haptic devices have shown promising results in the fields of robotic teleoperation [1], [2], rehabilitation [3], guidance [4], [5], and gaming [6], [7]. They can be easily worn by the human user and are able to provide effective, rich, localized, and private stimuli.…”

“…It is composed of two DC motors attached to a fabric cuff worn around the arm. Scheggi et al [4] presented a cooperative human-robot navigation system in which vibrotactile armbands provide the human wearer with information about the motion of a mobile robot, keeping the two agents in a soft formation. Chinello et al [14] used four pulleys, worn evenly around the arm, to provide skin stretch at the palmar, dorsal, ulnar, and radial sides of the arm.…”