Touch and toys: new techniques for interaction with a remote group of robots

  • Authors:
  • Cheng Guo;James Everett Young;Ehud Sharlin

  • Affiliations:
  • University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada;University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada;University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
  • Year:
  • 2009

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Abstract

Interaction with a remote team of robots in real time is a difficult human-robot interaction (HRI) problem exacerbated by the complications of unpredictable real-world environments, with solutions often resorting to a larger-than-desirable ratio of operators to robots. We present two innovative interfaces that allow a single operator to interact with a group of remote robots. Using a tabletop computer the user can configure and manipulate groups of robots directly by either using their fingers (touch) or by manipulating a set of physical toys (tangible user interfaces). We recruited participants to partake in a user study that required them to interact with a small group of remote robots in simple tasks, and present our findings as a set of design considerations.