Mixed-Initiative Interactions for Mobile Robot Search

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At the INL we have been working towards making robots generally easier to use in a variety of tasks through the development of a robot intelligence kernel and an augmented-virtuality 3D interface. A robot with the intelligence kernel and the most recent interface design were demonstrated at the AAAI 2006 robot exhibition and took part in the scavenger hunt activity. Instead of delegating all responsibility for the scavenger hunt to the robot, as is common in traditional AI approaches, we used a mixed-initiative human-robot team to find and identify the objects in the environment. This approach allowed us to identify the objects and, using icons and labels, place them on the digital map that was built by the robot and presented in the 3D interface. Mixed-initiative interactions support the integration of robotic algorithms aspects with human knowledge to make the complete system more robust and capable than only using robots or humans.