ECE PhD Proposal Review: Murphy Wonsick

PhD Proposal Review: Improving Human Robot Interaction through Extended Reality Technologies

Murphy Wonsick

Location: Teams Link

Abstract: Recent advancements in robotics have allowed robots to become capable enough to be used in a wide variety of domains, such as manufacturing, search-and-rescue, and space exploration. However, human-robot interaction with these systems are still primarily achieved using 2D devices, such and laptops, tablets, and/or game controllers despite operating in a 3D world. And although these interfaces can be very capable in operating a robot, they are often complex and require expert operators as well as extensive training. Extended reality technologies provide an opportunity to create more intuitive human-robot interaction by allowing operators to visualize and interact with 3D data in a 3D environment, allowing for a more natural interaction. Usage of extended reality technologies in human-robot interaction though are still very limited. In this proposal, I aim to investigate how to provide better experiences for humans in human-robot interaction using extended reality technologies. Focus will be spent on using virtual reality headset to create supervisory control interfaces for remote robot operation and augmented reality head-mounted displays to help facilitate communication in human-robot shared workspaces. The goal of this work is to move towards more intuitive and easy-to-use interfaces for human-robot interaction.