Testing the Usefulness of a Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) Camera in Human-Robot Interactions

Abstract

Mobile robots can be used in situations and environments that are dull, dirty, or dangerous, allowing the operator to interact with the environment from a safe and convenient distance. To improve the usefulness of these robots, pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras are often used. This paper presents a user-study comparing the usefulness of robots with stationary and PTZ cameras in a search task utilizing both a traditional interface and an augmented-virtuality 3D interface. The results from the experiments suggest that with the traditional interface the PTZ camera and stationary camera have similar performance whereas with the 3D interface the PTZ camera improves performance.