Panoramic Image Information Utility for Mobile Robot Exploration

When searching a remote environment with a robot, the fundamental constraint on the operator is the bandwidth available to the mission. This paper examines how a science team uses a high bandwidth panorama during a two-year astrobiology field test. Bandwidth directly controls the type and amount of information received by the operator. Given the significance of information and bandwidth to mission success, it is important for human robot interaction analyses to consider bandwidth usage during robotic operations. Insight gained from these analyses can help future missions efficiently use their bandwidth to collect the necessary information from the environment. The analysis first shows that the science team preferentially views certain areas of the panorama based on tile elevation but not based on azimuth. This finding led the analysis to look into what tasks the science team completes while using the panorama. In the context of an astrobiology mission, the most important role of the panorama is to determine the robot´s position on orbital images. The secondary task is to determine the general geologic context of the environment. Based on the viewing patterns and associated tasks the analysis produces a list of targets important to mission success. Future research efforts will focus on methods for collecting the information contained in these targets from the environment at a reduced bandwidth cost.