Heads-Up Display for Control of Unmanned Ground Vehicles

Robot operators need a way of controlling and interfacing with a robotic vehicle that does not require them to stop what they are doing, set up a laptop or other control station and teleoperate the vehicle directly. Our initial trade study suggests that a head and eye-tracked HMD may be the best method of controlling a robot on the move as long as the HMD does not significantly obscure the operators direct field-of-view (FOV). SA Photonics personnel have been designing HMDs for most of their careers, have written numerous publications on HMD design and give classes around the world on HMD design. Our primary approach is a see-through HMD with electrically-variable transmission for direct viewing of video, text and graphics over a wide range of ambient illumination. We also plan to investigate a direct-view (non see-through) HMD that can be placed out of the operators direct line of sight, an approach which has proved beneficial in our previous UGV work. Both display approaches incorporate a head- and eye-tracking system to enable a hands-free user interface and a wireless communications system to communicate between the robot and the soldier.