Human-initiative variable autonomy: an experimental analysis on operator's interaction with a remotely operated mobile robot

This paper presents an experimental analysis of the HumanRobot Interaction (HRI) between human operators and a Human-Initiative (HI) variable-autonomy mobile robot during navigation tasks. In our HI system the human operator is able to switch the Level of Autonomy (LOA) on-the-fly between teleoperation (joystick control) and autonomous control (robot navigates autonomously towards waypoints selected by the human). We present statistically-validated results on: the preferred LOA of human operators; the amount of time spent in each LOA; the frequency of human-initiated LOA switches; and human perceptions of task difficulty. We also investigate the correlation between these variables; their correlation with performance in the primary task (navigation of the robot); and their correlation with performance in a secondary task, in which humans are required to perform mental rotations of 3D objects, while simultaneously trying to continue with the primary task of driving the robot.