Surface Telerobotics: Development and Testing of a Crew Controlled Planetary Rover System

Fong, Terry; Bualat, Maria; Allan, Malcolm; Bouyssounouse, Xavier; Cohen, Tamar

doi:10.2514/6.2013-5475

Cited by 17 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…The use of safeguarding capabilities of the rover in combination with interactive 3D visualizations reduced the cognitive load of the astronaut while keeping the robot in a safe state. The experiment demonstrated the efficiency of supervisory command with interactive monitoring [15].…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 93%

Knowledge Driven Orbit-to-Ground Teleoperation of a Robot Coworker

Schmaus

Leidner

Krüger

et al. 2020

IEEE Robot. Autom. Lett.

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The crewed exploration of Moon and Mars requires the construction and maintenance of infrastructure on the alien surfaces before a crew arrives. Robotic coworkers are envisioned to take over the physical labor required to set-up crew habitats, energy supplies, and return vehicles in the hazardous environment. Deploying these robots in such a remote location poses a challenge that requires autonomous robot capabilities in combination with effective Human Robot Interfaces (HRIs), which comply with the harsh conditions of deep space operations. An astronaut-robot teleoperation concept targeting these topics has been evaluated in DLR and ESA's METERON SUPVIS Justin experiment where astronauts on-board the International Space Station (ISS) commanded DLR's humanoid robot Rollin' Justin in a simulated Martian environment on Earth. This work extends on our previously presented approach to supervised autonomy. It examines the results of the two follow-up experiment sessions which investigated maintenance and assembly tasks in real-world scenarios. We discuss the use of our system in real space-toground deployment and analyze key performance metrics of the HRI and the feedback given by the astronauts.

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Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 93%

Knowledge Driven Orbit-to-Ground Teleoperation of a Robot Coworker

Schmaus

Leidner

Krüger

et al. 2020

IEEE Robot. Autom. Lett.

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“…The use of interactive 3D visualizations of the robot in the GUI further reduced the cognitive workload and increased the situational awareness of the astronaut. With this experiment, NASA demonstrated the effectiveness of supervisory commanding of autonomous robots with interactive monitoring of the command execution for a complex construction scenario [11].…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Continued Advances in Supervised Autonomy User Interface Design for METERON SUPVIS Justin

Schmaus

Leidner

Bayer

et al. 2019

2019 IEEE Aerospace Conference

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The exploration of the universe remains a challenging endeavor, constantly pushing the limits of technology. Of special interest is the investigation of the other planets of our solar system such as Mars, which has been examined by various teleoperated and (semi-) autonomous satellites and landers. But an important milestone that is needed for a deeper understanding of the planet is still missing: A crewed landing. In order to send humans to such a remote location, an infrastructure for the landing crew including an energy supply, a habitat, and a return vehicle needs to be provided on the surface of the planet. The construction and maintenance of these structures is envisioned to be done by semiautonomous robots that are commanded from orbiting spacecrafts.

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“…The study tasks were designed to raise questions related to interdependence, such as those noted by Johnson (2014): ‘What is the robot doing?’; ‘What is it going to do next?’; ‘How can I get it to do what I need?’ Such questions ‘highlight underlying issues of observability, predictability, and directability’ and elicit participant responses to obtain data regarding how users might intuitively attempt to answer such questions (Johnson, 2014). The first task was inspired by applications such as space telerobotics (Bualat et al, 2013) and wilderness search-and-rescue (Goodrich et al, 2008) where users direct robots to explore and collect data from unfamiliar or uncertain environments. The second task was designed as an analog to tasks involving robotic support for logistics management (Bualat et al, 2015; Fong et al, 2013) where robots may help locate tools or identify items or areas needing repair.…”

Section: Formative Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Designing planning and control interfaces to support user collaboration with flying robots

Szafir

Mutlu

Fong

2017

The International Journal of Robotics Research

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Robots are becoming increasingly prevalent and are already providing assistance in a variety of activities, ranging from space exploration to domestic housework. Recent advances in the design of sensors, motors, and microelectromechanical systems have enabled the development of a new class of small aerial robots. These free-flying robots hold great promise in assisting humans by acting as mobile sensor platforms to collect data in areas that are difficult to access or infeasible to instrument. In this work, we explored the design of interfaces that support users in working with free-flying robots to accomplish tasks including inventory logistics and management, environmental data collection, and visual inspection. Extending prior work in control interfaces for ground robots, we conducted a formative study in order to identify key design requirements for free-flyer interfaces. We designed several realistic tasks for use in evaluating human–robot interaction within the context of indoor free-flyer operation. We implemented three prototype interfaces that each provide varying degrees of support in enabling remote users to work with a flying robot to plan, communicate goals, accomplish tasks, and respond to changes in a dynamic environment. An experimental evaluation of each interface found that the interface designed to support collaborative planning and replanning using an interactive timeline and three-dimensional spatial waypoints significantly improved users’ efficiency in accomplishing tasks, their ability to intervene in response to spontaneous changes in task demands, and their ratings of the robot as a teammate compared to interfaces that support low-level teleoperation or waypoint-based supervisory control. Our results demonstrate the utility of a data-driven design process and show the need for free-flyer interfaces to consider planning phases in addition to task execution. In addition, we demonstrate the importance of providing interface support for interrupting robot operations as unplanned events arise.

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Surface Telerobotics: Development and Testing of a Crew Controlled Planetary Rover System

Cited by 17 publications

References 7 publications

Knowledge Driven Orbit-to-Ground Teleoperation of a Robot Coworker

Knowledge Driven Orbit-to-Ground Teleoperation of a Robot Coworker

Continued Advances in Supervised Autonomy User Interface Design for METERON SUPVIS Justin

Designing planning and control interfaces to support user collaboration with flying robots

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