Experience in System Design for Human-Robot Teaming in Urban Search and Rescue

Abstract

The paper describes experience with applying a user-centric design methodology in developing systems for human-robot teaming in Urban Search and Rescue. A human-robot team consists of several semi-autonomous robots (rovers/UGVs, microcopter/UAVs), several humans at an off-site command post (mission commander, UGV operators) and one on-site human (UAV operator). This system has been developed in close cooperation with several rescue organizations, and has been deployed in a real-life tunnel accident use case. The human-robot team jointly explores an accident site, communicating using a multi-modal team interface, and spoken dialogue. The paper describes the development of this complex socio-technical system per se, as well as recent experience in evaluating the performance of this system

Emotional Attachment, Performance, and Viability in Teams Collaborating with Embodied Physical Action (EPA) Robots

“…These teams range from urban search-and-rescue teams to advanced surgical operations teams (Shah, Wiken, Williams, & Breazeal, 2011;Zawieska & Duffy, 2014). Many first-responder teams are paired with remote-control robots to help the teams perform both life-threatening and life-saving tasks (Kruijff et al, 2014). Members of search-and-rescue teams, for example, employ remote-control robots to perform tasks like removing obstacles from dangerous areas (Burke, Murphy, Coovert, & Riddle, 2004;Kruijff et al, 2014).…”

“…Many first-responder teams are paired with remote-control robots to help the teams perform both life-threatening and life-saving tasks (Kruijff et al, 2014). Members of search-and-rescue teams, for example, employ remote-control robots to perform tasks like removing obstacles from dangerous areas (Burke, Murphy, Coovert, & Riddle, 2004;Kruijff et al, 2014). Despite the gravity of the work performed by these teams, we know very little about how to facilitate better performance in teams working on collaborative tasks with robots.…”

A Review of Point Cloud Registration Algorithms for Mobile Robotics

“…Field deployments on firemen training site were published at the 2012 International Conference on Field and Service Robotics [Kruijff et al, 2012], while the results specific to registration were published in . A second application relevant to registration is the automation of inspection as described in Section 3.2.…”

Symbiotic relationship between robots — a ROS ARDrone/YouBot library

“…After operating the robot in isolation to gather baseline data, an autonomous UAV is introduced to assist the rover. This scenario is analogous to fields such as search and rescue operations [8] or planetary exploration [9].…”

“…Both the rover and the UAV are commanded through ROS 8 by setting the corresponding body frame velocity demands (ẋ d ,ẏ d ,ψ d ) with the addition ofż d for the UAV. The control system is developed in Simulink 9 , and the Robotics System Toolbox 10 to communicate with ROS nodes.…”