UI-design and evaluation for human-robot-teaming in infantry platoons

The military benefit of unmanned reconnaissance for infantry as the most exposed military branch is obvious. Furthermore, unmanned systems can also support by transporting heavy equipment, including sensor payloads usually not fielded by infantry units. While larger assets are typically controlled from afar, smaller assets can be controlled directly by nearby troops and satisfy immediate reconnaissance needs. In this work, the design, implementation and evaluation of a user interface (UI) for integrating unmanned platforms into the German army’s infantry platoons is presented. More specific, two unmanned aerial vehicles and two unmanned ground vehicles were to be integrated into a platoon. This work highlights the user interface aspects, training effort and organizational changes. German paratroopers and mountain infantry assisted with the requirements analysis and UI evaluation. In addition, the German Army Concepts and Capabilities Development Center supported the evaluation. The effort to bring unmanned systems into infantry units is motivated, related work concerning the control of unmanned systems is presented, the results of the requirements elicitation for this undertaking is reported, the design and implementation as well as the instruction strategy are outlined and the results of a test campaign reported. The paper concludes by summing up the current state and outlining future work regarding UI development for soldier-multi-robot-teams

Bowdoin Orient v.135, no.1-25 (2005-2006)

https://digitalcommons.bowdoin.edu/bowdoinorient-2000s/1006/thumbnail.jp