Future emergency incident responses, including Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive (CBRNE), will incorporate robots. The ability to interact with robots and understand the resulting volumes of information requires a system of human-robot interfaces employing directable visualizations that provide information immediacy, relevancy, and sharing appropriate for each human’s responsibilities.
This dissertation conducted two modified Cognitive Tasks [...]
The emergency response incidents (e.g., Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive (CBRNE) incidents or weapons of mass destruction) are evolving from a response involving humans (e.g. first responders, government officials, civilians) with equipment (e.g. protective suits, vehicles, sensors) to a response system combining humans and thinking machines (e.g. robots, information technology). The difference between equipment (e.g. fire engines, [...]
As robotic systems encompass larger numbers of individual robotic agents, interface design must provide better visual representations that account for factors affecting situational awareness. This project investigated different robotic team visualizations that varied in how much information was displayed: only individual robots, individual robots connected via a semitransparent team shape, and a solid team shape. [...]
As multiple robot systems become more common, it is necessary to develop scalable human-robot interfaces that permit the inclusion of additional robots without reducing the overall system performance. This project focused on the development of a scalable interface for a single human-to-multiple robot system with the intention to promote situation awareness and the management of [...]
This project compared two representative compass visualizations: top-down and in-world world-aligned to ascertain which one provided better metric judgment accuracy, lowers workload, provides better situational awareness, is perceived as easier to use, and is preferred. The evaluation results are in agreement with existing results regarding the effects of 2D and 3D views on the operators’ [...]
After the events of September 11th, 2001, the need to formally analyze Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive device (CBRNE) events to lay the framework for improvement through the use of technology is great. This project involved using several analysis techniques, including Goal-Directed Task Analysis (GDTA), modified Cognitive Work Analysis (mCWA), and Cognitive Information Flow [...]
This project formulated how the large numbers of individuals that can be involved in an emergency response event can be encapsulated into ten different Emergency Response System Human-Robot Interaction User Levels that represent the various manners in which responders will interact with future robotic systems. The ten user levels were informed by existing HRI roles, [...]
The Cognitive Information Flow Analysis (CIFA) is a method to combine results from multiple cognitive task analyses while providing a focus on the necessary system information flow, which includes how information is produced, consumed, and transformed by the various system functions and users. This project explored the CIFA concept, conducted a case study that applies [...]
Robots can significantly impact the CBRNE Response activities by providing directed, specific, first-hand information prior to and during hot zone entry. Hot zone entry is not permitted until there is a preliminary hazard identification, responders don PPEs, decontamination facilities are established, etc. Rapid robot deployments will provide additional information and assist in directing the response. [...]
Remote imagery is usually affected by the keyhole effect, or viewing the world through a “soda straw.” This project focused on reducing the keyhole effect by improving the viewing angle of the imagery using a novel method that produces results more akin to that provided by the human vision system. The human eye like perspective [...]