CARR includes years of experience with direct ('in-the-field') human robot interaction as well as assistive robotics and robotic machines and aids in dangerous or low-visibility conditions.

Modern human society has an emphasis on visual sensing. Correspondingly, visual sensors play a dominant role in robotics; conventional human robot interfaces are based on visual displays possibly with additional audio support. It has been found that a limited visual field and obscured cameras adds to the distress of humans working under pressure. When humans or animals physically assist a human being, a great deal of the interfacing takes place via tactile and haptic sensing. Helping your passenger into or out of the car, usually does not require much discussion. A crew of fire fighters searching in a smoke filled area heavily relies on mutual physical contact. Another example is a (blind) person and a guide dog.

While tactile/haptic interaction amongst humans or between humans and animals is very natural and intuitive, its contextual basis is hardly understood. CARR has extensive experience in studying the contextual basis of tactile and haptic interaction in low visibility conditions (excluding visual clues influencing interaction) and transforming it into successful human robot interaction, where robots assist humans in dangerous or low-visibility conditions.

Successful projects include The Reins project, which brings humans and robots together and could help fire-fighters to tackle low visibility and, eventually, provide a robotic alternative to guide dogs for visually-impaired people. The Reins project was completed in March 2015 with ground-breaking results in the field of robotics.

The project developed a semi-autonomous mobile robot with sensory capabilities that can be shared with humans. It focuses on haptic and tactile human robot cooperation.

The main aim was to design and investigate haptic communication interfaces (reins) between a human agent and a mobile robot guide. Inspired by the use of a harness for a guide dog and also the rein to ride or drive a horse, the Reins project investigated and experimented with haptic interfaces for human-robot cooperation.

Another successful project in the field of human robot interaction was The Guardians project, a European Union FP6 ‘Advanced Robotics’ project, consisting of nine European partners, including South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, and which built an autonomous robotic system to establish ground safety in the event of a fire.

Staff

Dr Alessandro di Nuovo
Jacques Penders
Lyuba Alboul
Heath Reed
Alessandro Soranzo
Carol Cooper
Paula Procter