A Haptic Multimodal Interface with Abstract Controls for Semi-Autonomous Manipulation

Abstract

Even as autonomous capabilities improve, many robot manipulation tasks require human(s)-in-the-loop to resolve high-level problems in uncertain environments or ambiguous situations. Prior work in highly autonomous applications tends to use interfaces with few human interface modalities, poten-tially missing out on the benefits that multimodal interfaces have demonstrated in lower-level operation. In this work, we demonstrate a system with a multimodal interface for a controlling a robot at a high level of autonomy. This example highlights how multiple modalities could enable redundant and robust interactions, increased situational awareness, and compact representations of complex commands, such as how to grasp an object.