The use of robots in harsh and unstructured field applications

Lundberg, Carl; Christensen, Henrik I.; Hedström, Andreas

doi:10.1109/roman.2005.1513771

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…The experiment was done in a fairly simple and uncluttered environment of a type familiar to the test persons with good light conditions. Earlier studies indicate that environments with less familiar objects or very cluttered environments complicate robot-aided exploration [9].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The SA issues are closely coupled to interface design and in many cases the user interface design becomes a driver for evaluation of an operators SA [8,13,14]. One of the most investigated areas regarding SA in robotics handles scout-robot operation in search and rescue and military settings [2,3,4,5,6,7,9]. Information gathering in mentioned research is commonly done by established research methods like interviews, user testing, questionnaires, subjective workload measures, observations, communication analysis and ethnographic approaches.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluation of Mapping with a Tele-operated Robot with Video Feedback

Lundberg¹,

Christensen²

2006

ROMAN 2006 - The 15th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication

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The first level includes using senses such as visual, auditory and tactile to gain information about the surrounding environment. On the second level, the disjointed data from level 1 is synthesized, evaluated and prioritized in relation to the present goal to form an understanding of the current state. On the third level, the knowledge from prior levels is used to predict the oncoming future. A subsequent level depends on the fulfillment of previous. Thus, level 1 needs to be accomplished prior to level 2 and in the same way level 2 has to be reached prior to level 3.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Mapping with a Tele-operated Robot with Video Feedback

Lundberg¹,

Christensen²

2006

ROMAN 2006 - The 15th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication

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“…Previous experiments and demos have shown that soldiers and lower level officers in general are sceptical about robotics until they get to fully know the system abilities ͑Lundberg, Barck-Holst, Folkeson & Christensen, 2003;Lundberg, Christensen & Hedström, 2005͒. The hand-over of the robot system to the users rather than bringing it to each appointed trial, intended to give them a sense of responsibility and, thereby, increase their commitment in deployment.…”

Section: How To Implementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long‐term study of a portable field robot in urban terrain

Lundberg¹,

Christensen²,

Reinhold³

2007

Journal of Field Robotics

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The armed forces have a considerable amount of experience in using robots for bomb removal and mine clearing. Emerging technology also enables the targeting of other applications. To evaluate if real deployment of new technology is justified, tactical advantages gained have to be compared to drawbacks imposed. Evaluation calls for realistic tests which in turn require methods dictating how to deploy the new features. The present study has had two objectives: first, to gain a comprehensive view of a potential user of man-portable robots; second, to embed a robot system with users for assessment of present technology in real deployment. In this project we investigated an army company specialized in urban operations performing their tasks with the support of the iRobot Packbot Scout. The robot was integrated and deployed as an ordinary piece of equipment which required modifying and retraining a number of standard behaviors. The reported results were acquired through a long-term test ranging over a period of six months. This paper focuses on the characteristics of the users and their current ways of operation; how the robot was implemented and deployed. Additionally, this paper describes benefits and drawbacks from the users' perspective. A number of limitations in current robot technology are also identified. The findings show that the military relies on precise and thoroughly trained actions that can be executed with a minimum of ambiguity. To make use of robots, new behavioral schemes, which call for tactical optimization over several years, are needed. The most common application during the trials was reconnaissance inside buildings with uncertain enemy presence when time was not critical. Deploying the robot took more time than completing the task by traditional means, but in return kept the soldiers out of harm's way and enabled them to decrease weapon deployment. The range of the radio link, limited video feedback, and the bulky operator control unit were the features constraining the system's overall performance the most. On the other hand, did properties of the system, such as ruggedness, size, weight, terrain ability, and endurance, prove to match the application. The users were of the opinion that robots such as the Packbot Scout would be a valuable standard feature in urban intervention.

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“…In one field experiment, military reconnaissance teams were given teleoperated robots with a remote camera for use in training exercises, and while the soldiers could control the robots, they had trouble placing the visual feedback into the larger mission context and communicating it to others [3]. This points towards the fundamental need of situation awareness for the required tasks; during a searchand-rescue training exercise, the authors of [4] observed that more than half of all communication interactions between robot drivers and spotters were for the purpose of simply trying to understand the robot state and environment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of increasing autonomy on tele-operation performance

O’Brien

Stump

Pierce

2010

2010 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems

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Tele-operation of robotic platforms has long suffered from the inability of the operator to effectively perform ancillary tasks while controlling the robot. Because of the focus required to perform tele-operation, the operator is limited in their ability to use the robot to improve their situational awareness, with tele-operation often becoming a detriment to their task rather than an enhancement. We present experimental results on the use of a tele-operated robotic system modified to include layered obstacle detection and avoidance routines and an open space planner. These algorithms help the operator shift their focus towards high-level tasks instead of low-level navigation. While experimental data shows that the increase in autonomy did not lead to a reduction in task completion time, obstacle collisions were reduced and has led to further investigation of cognitive load reduction during operation.

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The use of robots in harsh and unstructured field applications

Cited by 5 publications

References 5 publications

Evaluation of Mapping with a Tele-operated Robot with Video Feedback

Evaluation of Mapping with a Tele-operated Robot with Video Feedback

Long‐term study of a portable field robot in urban terrain

Effects of increasing autonomy on tele-operation performance

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