Controlling heterogeneous semi-autonomous rescue robot teams

Robot-assisted Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) operations benefit from having multiple robots search an area, especially if doing so does not require additional operators. However, designing a user interface that facilitates a single operator controlling many robots is challenging. In particular, the problems of situation awareness and cognitive load are amplified. This is especially the case when the robots concerned have a large number of degrees of freedom. We present a preliminary design and implementation of a user interface for a team of heterogeneous, potentially autonomous USAR robots with many degrees of freedom for both sequential and parallel operation. It extends our earlier design for a successfully deployed single-robot interface. Our design is inspired by Real-Time Strategy computer games, which must address many similar issues. The design seeks to maximise situational awareness and reduce cognitive load while allowing the operator to monitor and, if necessary, control all of the robots. Our user interface was deployed during the 2006 RoboCup Rescue Robot League where it played an important role in achieving the highest single-run scores in the preliminary rounds of the competition.