Autonomous Robot Teleoperation Scheduling for Stuck Tasks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Autonomous robots often encounter situations where they lack the necessary strategies to complete tasks and become 'stuck', requiring human intervention but lack efficient methods for seamless teleoperation.
Innovation Solution
The robot is equipped with on-demand teleoperation capabilities, allowing it to prompt a human operator for assistance when it reaches a state where it cannot determine a strategy to proceed, using sensors and intuitive manual input devices for efficient human control, and resumes autonomous operation when conditions allow.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the robot operates autonomously without teleoperation capabilities, then operational efficiency is improved, but the robot becomes stuck when lacking necessary strategies to complete tasks
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically switches between autonomous and teleoperated modes based on the robot's confidence level in performing tasks. When the robot encounters unfamiliar situations or low-confidence scenarios, it transitions to teleoperation mode, allowing flexible adaptation while maintaining autonomous efficiency for routine tasks
2Reliability
If the robot transitions to teleoperation when stuck, then task completion capability is improved, but operational interruptions increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary assessment of task confidence before execution. By evaluating whether it has sufficient strategies and confidence to complete a task beforehand, the robot can proactively determine when teleoperation is needed, avoiding unnecessary autonomous attempts that would lead to interruptions
3Ease of operation
If the robot uses traditional teleoperation methods, then human control is achieved, but ease of operation deteriorates due to complex control interfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The teleoperation system leverages the robot's own situational awareness and confidence assessment to determine when human assistance is needed. The robot autonomously identifies its knowledge gaps and initiates teleoperation requests, reducing the burden on operators to monitor and intervene in complex situations
Data Source
AI summary
A robot is operated in an autonomous mode of operation to perform a plurality of tasks. It is determined that a later task of the plurality of tasks needs human assistance while performing a current task of the plurality of tasks. The human assistance is scheduled for the later task. A teleoperator is communicated with to perform the human assistance associated with the later task.