Human-Robot Interface: Issues in Operator Performance, Interface Design, and Technologies

Abstract

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing the burden, to Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports (0704-0188), 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR FORM TO THE ABOVE ADDRESS. REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YYYY) July 20062. REPORT TYPE ARL-TR-3834 SPONSOR/MONITOR'S ACRONYM(S) 9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) SPONSOR/MONITOR'S REPORT NUMBER(S DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENTApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES ABSTRACTThis report tries to examine salient issues in robotic operator performance and reviews some of the promising user interface solutions, in designs and technologies. The first section concerns general issues in human-robot interaction and operator control unit designs. The second section presents the controlling of teleoperated and semi-autonomous robots and its associated human performance issues as well as user interface solutions. The last section surveys potential innovative technologies for enhancing the performance of robotic operators. Specifically, it concerns multimodal technologies, including voice recognition/synthesis systems, bone conduction and throat microphones, and tactile systems. SUBJECT TERMSauditory control and display, haptic display, human-robot interface, human-robot interaction, multi-modal, robotic operator performance SECURITY

Establishing human situation awareness using a multi-modal operator control unit in an urban search & rescue human-robot team

“…The guidelines are formulated against a large body of observations on design issues for OCUs. Chen et al [10], [9] provide a detailed overview of these issues, with a particular focus on tele-operation. Human performance issues in teleoperation typically arise in remote perception, and remote manipulation (which includes navigation).…”

Observations on single operator performance controlling two UGVs in a field assessment

“…Robotic assets are intended to be force multipliers, but recent practice has been one robotic asset assigned to one (or more) operator(s). As Chen et al [4] point out, the number of robots that one person can control is influenced by a number of factors including robot technology capability, mission requirements, and logistics. Olsen, Goodrich and colleagues have introduced the concepts of neglect time, interaction time, and fan-out which address qualitative and quantitative aspects of human interaction with single and multiple robots [9,13,16,17].…”

Light weight portable operator control unit using an Android-enabled mobile phone

“…However, efforts to evaluate OCUs are difficult because of the widely varying types of controllers and robotic platforms [1,2]. Some characteristics that can be used when evaluating the effectiveness of an OCU are the hardware capabilities such as battery life, portability, and communications range.…”