Evaluating Haptic Feedback for Vehicle Safety in Field Robotics

This project aims to evaluate a novel device of my own design and making which is able to communicate information about a remote robot’s state to a human operator via vibrating feedback. For example, hazards such as loose terrain or a steep incline may not be well reported to the operator via a camera feed. The focus of my PhD is the design of this novel control device and its application in making robot teleoperation safer for the robotic vehicle and less prone to errors.
My proposed project in Canada will progress in two phases. The first phase will take advantage of my proposed supervisor’s unique combination of expertise in mobile robotics and human perception, to conduct experiments to determine how vibrating haptic feedback can best be used to represent or recreate hazardous situations a mobile robot might encounter in real world use. These results will then very quickly inform the parameters for a second study, using the large scale off-road and aquatic robots to complete tasks that, by design, will involve navigating certain environmental hazards such as loose terrain, obstacles, very uneven ground, strong water currents, etc.

Faculty Supervisor:

Michael Jenkin

Student:

Partner:

Queen Mary, University of London

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Technology; Ocean Tech

University:

York University

Program: