Exploring 3d gesture metaphors for interaction with unmanned aerial vehicles

Abstract

We present a study exploring upper body 3D spatial interaction metaphors for control and communication with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) such as the Parrot AR Drone. We discuss the design and implementation of five interaction techniques using the Microsoft Kinect, based on metaphors inspired by UAVs, to support a variety of flying operations a UAV can perform. Techniques include a first-person interaction metaphor where a user takes a pose like a winged aircraft, a game controller metaphor, where a user's hands mimic the control movements of console joysticks, "proxy" manipulation, where the user imagines manipulating the UAV as if it were in their grasp, and a pointing metaphor in which the user assumes the identity of a monarch and commands the UAV as such. We examine qualitative metrics such as perceived intuition, usability and satisfaction, among others. Our results indicate that novice users appreciate certain 3D spatial techniques over the smartphone application bundled with the AR Drone. We also discuss the trade-offs in the technique design metrics based on results from our study.

Exploring head tracked head mounted displays for first person robot teleoperation

“…Pfeil et al [10] have previously developed full body gesture interfaces for controlling an AR Drone using a depth camera and joint information. Multiple metaphors for controlling a UAV were proposed, and a number of interfaces were compared in a formal user study.…”

“…Pfeil et al showed that gestural interfaces were preferred to the packaged smartphone application for the AR Drone with regards to naturalness, fun, and overall preference [10]. For that reason we developed our own simple control configuration using a Nintendo Wiimote.…”

“…One such area is Human Robot Interaction. Manipulating robots using gestural inputs has been an oft studied area [3][4] [10] in recent years, with interactivity and naturalness being among the observed benefits of this modality. A mode of control that has not been thoroughly explored as a primary input method for teleoperation is head tracking.…”

Haptic Guidance with a Soft Exoskeleton Reduces Error in Drone Teleoperation

“…These types of controllers are neither natural nor intuitive and require long training periods to be mastered [2]. In order to make drones more accessible to non-expert users and facilitate their direct control in demanding tasks such as inspection or rescue missions, several studies have investigated the use of gestures [3], [4]. In a previous study, the authors have identified an intuitive upper body movement pattern that naïve users exploited to fly a fixed wing drone [5].…”

Communication of intent in assistive free flyers

“…of smaller aerial robots are envisioned to provide aid in domains including construction [16], utilities [44], search-and-rescue [15], and space [8,9] by performing inspection, mapping, telepresence, and delivery tasks. We term these robots, which are represented in the growing body of research on micro air vehicles (MAVs) and multirotor aircraft [21,32,38], robotic airships [3,6], and space exploration robots [9], "assistive free-flyers" (AFFs).…”