A novel user-guided interface for robot search

Human operators play a key role in robotic exploration and search missions, as the interpretation of camera images typically requires the visual perception skills of humans. Thus one the key challenges in building effective robotic systems for such missions lies in developing good operator interfaces. In this paper, we present a novel asynchronous user-guided interface for human operators of robotic search of an unknown area. Enabled by efficient methods to store and retrieve recorded images (and meta information) in real-time, our interface allows the operator to click on any point of interest. The operator is then presented with highly-relevant images that cover the point, without occlusion. This, in contrast with system-guided approaches, where an automated system selects areas and images for inspection. Experiments with 32 human subjects in two different-size maps favor the user-guided approach we present over the system-guided approach. Additional experiments with human subjects provide an explanation as to the environment characteristics that favor our approach.