RIDE: A Mixed-Mode Control Interface for Mobile Robot Teams

There is a growing need for robot control interfaces that allow a single user to effectively control a large number of mostly-autonomous robots. The challenges in controlling such a collection of robots are very similar to the challenges of controlling characters in some genres of video games. In this paper, we argue that interfaces based on elements from computer video games are effective tools for the control of large robot teams. We present RIDE, the Robot Interactive Display Environment, an example of such an interface, and give the results of initial user studies with the interface, which lend support to our claim. Type of Report: Other Department of Computer Science & Engineering Washington University in St. Louis Campus Box 1045 St. Louis, MO 63130 ph: (314) 935-6160 RIDE: A Mixed-Mode Control Interface for Mobile Robot Teams Erik Karulf, Marshall Strother, Parker Dunton, and William D. Smart Department of Computer Science and Engineering Washington University in St. Louis {eak2,mas1,pbd1,wds}@cse.wustl.edu Abstract— There is a growing need for robot control interfaces that allow a single user to effectively control a large number of mostly-autonomous robots. The challenges in controlling such a collection of robots are very similar to the challenges of controlling characters in some genres of video games. In this paper, we argue that interfaces based on elements from computer video games are effective tools for the control of large robot teams. We present RIDE, the Robot Interactive Display Environment, an example of such an interface, and give the results of initial user studies with the interface, which lend support to our claim. There is a growing need for robot control interfaces that allow a single user to effectively control a large number of mostly-autonomous robots. The challenges in controlling such a collection of robots are very similar to the challenges of controlling characters in some genres of video games. In this paper, we argue that interfaces based on elements from computer video games are effective tools for the control of large robot teams. We present RIDE, the Robot Interactive Display Environment, an example of such an interface, and give the results of initial user studies with the interface, which lend support to our claim.