GGrantIndex
← Search

FUTURE SPACE EXPLORATION WILL REQUIRE HUMANS AND ROBOTS TO COLLABORATE TO PERFORM ALL THE NECESSARY TASKS. CURRENT ROBOTS MOSTLY OPERATE SEPARATELY FROM HUMANS DUE TO THEIR LIMITED CAPABILITIES. HOWEVER AS ROBOTS BECOME MORE CAPABLE AND AUTONOMOUS FURTHER COLLABORATION CAN OCCUR. WE IDENTIFY TWO TYPES OF COLLABORATIONS IN THE FUTURE: INDIRECT WHERE THE ROBOT PERFORMS TASKS SEPARATE THE ASTRONAUT AND DIRECT WHERE THE ASTRONAUT AND ROBOT WORK TOGETHER IN PARALLEL. HOWEVER FOR EITHER TYPES OF COLLABORATION THE ASTRONAUT AND ROBOT MUST BE ABLE TO COORDINATE THEIR ACTIONS. THIS REQUIRES THAT THE ROBOT EXPRESS INFORMATION ABOUT ITS STATE SUCH AS ITS INTENT AND STATUS. THE CUES THAT HUMANS USE TO CONVEY THIS INFORMATION REQUIRES MODALITIES OF EXPRESSION THAT MANY ROBOTS POSSESS. THUS OUR GOAL IN THIS WORK IS TO FIND WAYS FOR ROBOTS TO EXPRESS THEIR STATUS USING LIMITED MODALITIES. IN OUR PROPOSED WORK WE OUTLINE THE STEPS. IN THE FIRST STEP WE WILL USE A NEEDS FINDING APPROACH TO GET A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE INTERACTIONS THAT OCCUR BETWEEN ASTRONAUTS AND ROBOTS DURING SPACE MISSIONS AND TO IDENTIFY STATUS RELEVANT TO SUCCESSFUL COLLABORATION. NEXT WE WILL EXPLORE DIFFERENT METHODS OF CONVEYING STATUS USING PRIMARILY THREE MODALITIES: SOUNDS MOTION AND LIGHTS. WE CHOOSE THESE MODALITIES BECAUSE THEY ARE COMMONLY AVAILABLE (OR CAN BE ADDED) TO MOST ROBOT PLATFORMS. WE WILL UTILIZE TECHNIQUES FROM ANIMATION HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION AND PSYCHOLOGY AND VALIDATE OUR WORK IN USER STUDIES ON SEVERAL PROPOSED PLATFORMS (SPHERO VGO QUADROTOR). THE PLATFORM WE ARE TARGETING IS THE NEW FREE-FLYING ROBOT IN DEVELOPMENT AT THE INTELLIGENT ROBOTICS LAB AT AMES. LASTLY WE WILL VALIDATE OUR WORK IN A SMALL STUDY WITH OUR TARGET POPULATION ASTRONAUTS. SINCE ASTRONAUTS ARE NOT EASILY ACCESSIBLE WE WILL FIRST UTILIZE MISSION CONTROL AND A CONVENIENCE POPULATION TO GATHER DATA AND VALIDATE OUR WORK. IT IS IMPORTANT HOWEVER TO TEST OUR WORK WITH OUR INTENDED USERS IN A SMALLER STUDY. NASA HAS SHOWN AN ONGOING INTEREST IN HAVING ROBOTS BOTH AUTONOMOUS AND TELEOPERATED ON THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION. WITH ASTRONAUT TIME HIGHLY LIMITED IT IS NECESSARY TO UTILIZE ALL TOOLS AT HAND TO RELIEVE THEIR WORKLOAD TO IMPROVE MISSION SUCCESS. THIS WORK IS DIRECTLY APPLICABLE TO NASAS CURRENT SYSTEM THE SMART SPHERES AS WELL AS ITS NEW SYSTEM THE FREE-FLYING ROBOT. FURTHERMORE THIS WORK CAN HELP INFORM THE DESIGN OF THE NEW FREE-FLYING ROBOT SUCH THAT HUMAN-ROBOT COLLABORATION CAN BE IMPROVED IN FUTURE SPACE MISSIONS.

$173,999FY2015National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA

University Of Southern California, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

View source on USAspending →
FUTURE SPACE EXPLORATION WILL REQUIRE HUMANS AND ROBOTS TO COLLABORATE TO PERFORM ALL THE NECESSARY TASKS. CURRENT ROBOTS MOSTLY OPERATE SEPARATELY FROM HUMANS DUE TO THEIR LIMITED CAPABILITIES. HOWEVER AS ROBOTS BECOME MORE CAPABLE AND AUTONOMOUS FURTHER COLLABORATION CAN OCCUR. WE IDENTIFY TWO TYPES OF COLLABORATIONS IN THE FUTURE: INDIRECT WHERE THE ROBOT PERFORMS TASKS SEPARATE THE ASTRONAUT AND DIRECT WHERE THE ASTRONAUT AND ROBOT WORK TOGETHER IN PARALLEL. HOWEVER FOR EITHER TYPES OF COLLABORATION THE ASTRONAUT AND ROBOT MUST BE ABLE TO COORDINATE THEIR ACTIONS. THIS REQUIRES THAT THE ROBOT EXPRESS INFORMATION ABOUT ITS STATE SUCH AS ITS INTENT AND STATUS. THE CUES THAT HUMANS USE TO CONVEY THIS INFORMATION REQUIRES MODALITIES OF EXPRESSION THAT MANY ROBOTS POSSESS. THUS OUR GOAL IN THIS WORK IS TO FIND WAYS FOR ROBOTS TO EXPRESS THEIR STATUS USING LIMITED MODALITIES. IN OUR PROPOSED WORK WE OUTLINE THE STEPS. IN THE FIRST STEP WE WILL USE A NEEDS FINDING APPROACH TO GET A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE INTERACTIONS THAT OCCUR BETWEEN ASTRONAUTS AND ROBOTS DURING SPACE MISSIONS AND TO IDENTIFY STATUS RELEVANT TO SUCCESSFUL COLLABORATION. NEXT WE WILL EXPLORE DIFFERENT METHODS OF CONVEYING STATUS USING PRIMARILY THREE MODALITIES: SOUNDS MOTION AND LIGHTS. WE CHOOSE THESE MODALITIES BECAUSE THEY ARE COMMONLY AVAILABLE (OR CAN BE ADDED) TO MOST ROBOT PLATFORMS. WE WILL UTILIZE TECHNIQUES FROM ANIMATION HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION AND PSYCHOLOGY AND VALIDATE OUR WORK IN USER STUDIES ON SEVERAL PROPOSED PLATFORMS (SPHERO VGO QUADROTOR). THE PLATFORM WE ARE TARGETING IS THE NEW FREE-FLYING ROBOT IN DEVELOPMENT AT THE INTELLIGENT ROBOTICS LAB AT AMES. LASTLY WE WILL VALIDATE OUR WORK IN A SMALL STUDY WITH OUR TARGET POPULATION ASTRONAUTS. SINCE ASTRONAUTS ARE NOT EASILY ACCESSIBLE WE WILL FIRST UTILIZE MISSION CONTROL AND A CONVENIENCE POPULATION TO GATHER DATA AND VALIDATE OUR WORK. IT IS IMPORTANT HOWEVER TO TEST OUR WORK WITH OUR INTENDED USERS IN A SMALLER STUDY. NASA HAS SHOWN AN ONGOING INTEREST IN HAVING ROBOTS BOTH AUTONOMOUS AND TELEOPERATED ON THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION. WITH ASTRONAUT TIME HIGHLY LIMITED IT IS NECESSARY TO UTILIZE ALL TOOLS AT HAND TO RELIEVE THEIR WORKLOAD TO IMPROVE MISSION SUCCESS. THIS WORK IS DIRECTLY APPLICABLE TO NASAS CURRENT SYSTEM THE SMART SPHERES AS WELL AS ITS NEW SYSTEM THE FREE-FLYING ROBOT. FURTHERMORE THIS WORK CAN HELP INFORM THE DESIGN OF THE NEW FREE-FLYING ROBOT SUCH THAT HUMAN-ROBOT COLLABORATION CAN BE IMPROVED IN FUTURE SPACE MISSIONS. · GrantIndex