Comparison of a map- vs. camera-based user interface in a multi-robot navigation task

Many missions with semi-autonomous multi-robot systems rely on the basic function to autonomously navigate within an unknown operational area. For missions in hazardous environments the efficiency of a robot´s autonomous navigation system in an unknown terrain is difficult to estimate. In the case of performance degradations the human operator as a supervisory controller has to intervene and interactively improve the system´s quality of service. A study of a novel multi-robot user interface for effective operator intervention is presented. Therefore, a simulated semi-autonomous multi-robot system with three different user interface configurations as well as 1,2, or 4 robots was compared. Central to the study´s task is that operators can improve system performance by careful monitoring and intelligent intervention. According to the results this is possible for single robot scenarios but not for the multi-robot settings.