HUMAN FACTORS ENGINEERING IMPLICATIONS OF SUPERVISORY CONTROL FOR MANIPULATIVE ROBOTIC SYSTEMS

THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED EFFORT IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF IMPLEMENTATION CONCEPTS FOR APPLICATION OF SUPERVISORY CONTROL TECHNIQUES TO ROBOTIC/TELEOPERATOR SYSTEMS. THE STATE-OF-THE-ART IN MANIPULATOR AND MOBILITY SYSTEM OPERATOR INTERFACE AND CONTROL TECHNIQUES WILL BE EVALUATED AGAINST FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS OF ANTICIPATED ARMY ROBOTIC/TELEOPERATOR APPLICATIONS TO HAZARDOUS MATERIALS HANDLING AND OPERATION IN HOSTILE ENVIRONMENTS. SELECTED APPLICATIONS WILL BE ANALYZED IN DETAIL TO IDENTIFY "ELEMENTAL MOVEMENTS" FOR MOBILITY AND MANIPULATOR SYSTEMS WHICH CAN BE PERFORMED UNDER MACHINE AUTONOMY. INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS WILL BE IDENTIFIED FOR PROMISING CONTROL SCHEMES BASED ON A WORLD MODEL APPROACH. THE FEASIBILITY WILL BE EVALUATED OF DEVELOPING AN OPERATOR INTERFACE TECHNIQUE IN WHICH THE OPERATOR INTERACTS WITH A WORLD MODEL WHICH CONTAINS DATA ABOUT OBJECTS AND CONDITIONS IN THE VICINITY OF THE ROBOTIC/TELEOPERATOR SYSTEM. THE OPERATOR WOULD USE THE WORLD MODEL TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE REMOTE SYSTEM AND WOULD CORRECT DATA IN THE WORLDMODEL AS REQUIRED. SEQUENCES OF ELEMENTAL MOVEMENTS AND ASSOCIATED PARAMETERS WOULD BE COMMANDED BY THE OPERATOR AND EXECUTED UNDER MACHINE CONTROL. IT IS CONSIDERED THAT THE PROPOSED STUDY WILL PROVIDE USEFUL CONCEPTS AND EVALUATIVE DATA FOR DESIGNERS OF SUCH SYSTEMS IN THE FUTURE.