Gaze-Activated Drone Control Station Interface
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current drone control stations require a high number of actions from operators to interact with drones, leading to increased processing complexity, reaction time, and cognitive load.
Innovation Solution
A control station that selectively activates operating modes in response to the operator's gaze, using an eye tracker and touch-sensitive interface to simplify interactions by allowing gestures to trigger functionalities and modify video streams and drone operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the control station requires multiple actions for operator interaction with drones, then the processing complexity and cognitive load increase, but the reliability of drone control may improve through confirmation steps
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by detecting the operator's gaze direction in advance and pre-loading or pre-positioning the relevant drone information and control interfaces. This allows the operator to interact with the desired drone more quickly without having to manually search or navigate through multiple menus, thereby reducing the number of actions required while maintaining system reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The control station serves itself by automatically detecting which drone the operator is interested in through eye tracking technology. The system self-adjusts the displayed information and activates the appropriate control modes without requiring the operator to manually select or configure settings, thus reducing cognitive load and operational steps
2Loss of information
If the control station displays multiple video streams and control options simultaneously, then the information availability improves, but the ease of operation deteriorates due to increased cognitive load
Solution Approach 1:
The display interface applies local quality by showing different levels of information detail in different regions or contexts. When a drone is detected through eye tracking, the system provides detailed information and control options locally in that specific area, while keeping other areas simplified. This allows comprehensive information availability without overwhelming the operator's cognitive load across the entire interface
Solution Approach 2:
The information display is made dynamic by automatically adjusting which drones and information are highlighted based on the operator's gaze detection. The interface transitions between different states of information display, showing detailed information for the selected drone while minimizing or hiding information for other drones, thereby maintaining information availability while reducing cognitive load through adaptive presentation
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~6
AI summary
The invention relates to a station for controlling a plurality of drones, including: a display device (4) configured to display graphic elements including active graphic elements (14A) configured for the interaction of an operator (10) with the control station (2); a command interface (8) for the operator to enter commands for the control station (2); and an oculometer (6) configured to detect the direction in which the operator (10) is looking. The control station (2) is configured such as to selectively activate one of a plurality of first operating modes of the control station (2) respectively associated with one of the active graphic elements (14A) in response to detecting that the operator (10) is looking at the corresponding active graphic element (14), each first operating mode being configured such as to enable the operator to interact with one or more graphic elements (14) and/or one or more drones via the command interface (8), according to a given set of functionalities.