Autonomy in Human-Robot Team Control

Abstract

Human control of multiple robots has been characterized by the average demand of single robots on human attention or the distribution of demands from multiple robots. When robots are allowed to cooperate autonomously, however, demands on the operator should be reduced by the amount previously required to coordinate their actions. The present experiment compares control of small robot teams in which robots were controlled either independently or coordinated via Machinetta proxies. Coordinated robots found more victims and searched wider areas.