Mixed-Initiative Control for Collaborative Countermine Operations

This paper discusses experimental results achieved by using mixed initiative robot behavior to address the challenges of detecting and marking buried metal landmines. Mission requirements pertaining to communication bandwidth and operator workload precluded conventional approaches to communication and tasking. Instead, a framework for sharing control and communicating “behavior intent” was developed to coordinate activities of intelligent unmanned air and ground vehicles. To alleviate dependence on global positioning, collaborative tasking tools were developed that use common reference points in the environment to correlate disparate internal representations (e.g. aerial imagery and ground-based occupancy grids). The behaviors allow each team member to act independently while communicating environmental features and task intent at a high level. Results show that the resulting system produced a significant decrease in task time to completion and a significant increase in detection accuracy and reliability when compared to the current military baseline. As required, the experiment was accomplished without dependence on global positioning or continuous network communication. These findings indicate that by providing an appropriate means to interleave human and robotic intent, mixed initiative behaviors can address complex and critical missions where neither teleoperated nor autonomous strategies have succeeded. Mixed-Initiative Control for Collaborative Countermine Operations David J. Bruemmer, Douglas A. Few, Curtis Nielsen, Miles C. Walton Idaho National Laboratory Idaho Falls, ID 83415