ARL-TR-8597 - Wearable Concepts for Gesture-Based Robot Control, Direction Localization, and Communication to a Tactile Belt Display | U.S. Army Research Laboratory

摘要

This report describes development and evaluation of a wearable control and display concept developed through Small Business Innovative Research's Phase 2 funding, as accomplished by AnthroTronix, Inc. Instrumented gloves were adapted for two broad uses. The first involves use of the instrumented glove for robot control (i.e., driving and robotic arm manipulation). Soldiers used the instrumented glove and a handheld controller to navigate around obstacles and manipulate the robotic arm. Results suggested the use of the instrumented glove reduced the time needed to maneuver the manipulator arm as compared with the use of the hand-held controller. The second application demonstrated use of the instrumented glove to generate direction and distance through a pointing gesture. This capability was further explored with regard to the manner in which direction and distance can be communicated to another Soldier. Direction and distance information was conveyed to Soldiers using three conditions that combine speech and tactile cues. Results suggested the mixed condition reduced time needed to accurately determine direction and distance to a threat compared with the all-tactile and all-speech communication conditions. Soldier-based feedback on these concepts was generally positive and will serve to enhance further development toward operational readiness.