Autonomous Vehicle Presence Acknowledgment for Human-Robot Interaction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Interactions between vehicles, such as mobile robots, and individuals can be uncomfortable due to uncertainty about the robot's awareness of human presence, leading to potential collisions or distrust.
Innovation Solution
Equipping mobile robots with sensor systems and communication systems that allow them to autonomously acknowledge human presence through visual, auditory, or other means before and during encounters, using sensors to detect proximity and communicate awareness, and potentially adjusting movement to ensure safe passage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the mobile robot operates autonomously without acknowledgment systems, then the device complexity is reduced, but the being's uncertainty and discomfort increase
Solution Approach 1:
The mobile robot performs preliminary acknowledgment actions by detecting the being's presence using sensors and communicating awareness before the vehicle approaches or interacts with the being. This advance notification reduces uncertainty and discomfort, allowing the being to mentally prepare for the encounter while maintaining relatively simple system architecture.
2Reliability
If the mobile robot autonomously acknowledges presence of beings, then the being's comfort and trust increase, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The mobile robot employs multi-functional sensor systems that serve both navigation/obstacle detection purposes and being presence detection purposes. The same sensors and communication infrastructure used for basic autonomous operation are leveraged for presence acknowledgment, avoiding the need for separate dedicated systems and thereby limiting the increase in device complexity.
3Reliability
If the mobile robot uses sensors and communication systems to acknowledge presence, then interactions become more comfortable and trustworthy, but the loss of time for detection and communication occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The mobile robot continuously operates sensors to detect beings in its environment, maintaining an ongoing awareness state rather than performing discrete detection scans. This continuous detection allows the robot to immediately acknowledge being presence when detected, eliminating delays associated with periodic sampling and reducing the perceived time loss during interactions.
4Productivity
If the mobile robot autonomously moves without presence acknowledgment, then productivity is maintained, but harmful factors such as collisions and distrust increase
Solution Approach 1:
The mobile robot implements a feedback loop where sensors continuously monitor the environment for beings, the system processes this information to determine presence, and communication systems provide acknowledgment to detected beings. This closed-loop feedback enables the robot to maintain productivity while simultaneously reducing harmful effects by keeping beings informed of the robot's awareness, thereby preventing collisions and building trust.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems and devices are provided involving at least one vehicle and at least one being such as a person. In one method, the vehicle is operated to autonomously move within an environment. The vehicle is also operated to autonomously acknowledge presence of the being approximately when the vehicle encounters the being during the moving of the vehicle.