UAV, do you see me? Establishing mutual attention between an uninstrumented human and an outdoor UAV in flight

Abstract

We present the first demonstration of establishing mutual attention between an outdoor UAV in autonomous normal flight and an uninstrumented human user. We use the familiar periodic waving gesture as a signal to attract the UAV's attention. The UAV can discriminate this gesture from human walking and running that appears similarly periodic. Once a signaling person is observed and tracked, the UAV acknowledges that the user has its attention by hovering and performing a “wobble” behavior. Both parties are now ready for further interaction. The system works on-board the UAV using a single camera for input and is demonstrated working reliably in real-robot trials.