A robot's spatial perception communicated via human touch

Abstract

A robot perceives space in order to navigate, map, search and investigate its surroundings. One application area where humans interact with robots is search and rescue. The robot may have unique capabilities such as seeing outside the visible spectrum and being able to navigate in tight and hazardous spaces. In such an operation, the human may also be an effective search agent. Thus, it would be beneficial if the robot's spatial perception was conveyed to the human via a secondary peripheral modality. We have worked on developing a visual to tactile substitution device for people who are visually impaired or blind. We propose to use this similar technique to the remote robot in order that it convey its spatial perception to the human operator or co-worker.