Intelligent autonomy for remote characterization of hazardous environments

Remote characterization of high radiation environments is a pressing application area where robots have the potential to provide benefits in terms of time, cost, safety and quality of data. However, the ability to design robots that can be used effectively has proven to be no easy task. In 2001, the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) successfully deployed a teleoperated robotic system coupled with a Gamma Locating and Isotopic Identification Device (RGL&IID) to characterize an area that had been closed to human entry for many years. This paper examines the limitations to the control strategy used and discusses how current efforts at the INEEL are developing intelligent controls that can actively mediate between the human and the robotic elements of the system. The resulting, mixed-initiative control architecture allows the user to shift the level of robot initiative throughout the task as needed. This system offers the opportunity for the human and robot to become a team where each can support the capabilities and limitations of the other.