A. James Clark School of Engineering
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Item Multi-Domain Human-Robot Interfaces(2024) Abdi, Sydrak Solomon; Paley, Derek; Aerospace Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)As autonomous robots become more capable and integrated into daily society, it becomes crucial to consider how a user will interact with them, how a robot will perceive a user, and how a robot will comprehend a user’s intentions. This challenge increases in difficulty when the user is required to interact with and control multiple robots simultaneously. Human intervention is often required during autonomous operations, particularly in scenarios that involve complex decision-making or where safety concerns arise. Thus, the methods by which users interact with multi-agent systems is an important area of research. These interactions should be intuitive, efficient, and effective all while preserving the operator's safety. We present a novel human swarm interface (HSI) that utilizes gesture control and haptic feedback to interact with and control a swarm of quadrotors in a confined space. This human swarm interface prioritizes operator safety while reducing cognitive load during control of an aerial swarm. Human-robot interfaces (HRIs) are mechanisms designed to facilitate communication between humans and robots, enhancing the user's ability to command and collaborate with robots in an intuitive and user-friendly manner. One challenge is providing mobile robotic systems with the capability to localize and interact with a user in their environment. Localization involves estimating the pose (position and orientation) of the user relative to the robot, which is essential for tasks that require close interactions or navigation in shared spaces. We present a novel method for obtaining user pose as well as other anthropometric measurements useful for human-robot interactions. Another challenge is extending these HRI and HSI paradigms to the outdoors. Unlike controlled laboratory conditions, outdoor environments involve a variety of variables such as fluctuating weather conditions as well as a mix of static and dynamic obstacles. In this dissertation, we design a portable human swarm interface that allows an operator to interact with and control a multi-agent system outdoors. The portable HSI takes the form of smart binoculars. The user uses the smart binoculars to select an outdoor location and assign a task for the multi-agent system to complete given the targeted area. This system allows for new methods of multi-agent operation, that will leverage a user's on-the-ground knowledge while utilizing autonomous vehicles for line-of-sight operations, without compromising their situational awareness.