Robot Communication Via Motion: Closing the Underwater Human-Robot Interaction Loop

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel underwater robot-to-human communication method using robot motion as body language, demonstrating its effectiveness through simulated gestures and user studies, without extra hardware.

Contribution

It presents a new motion-based communication system for underwater robots, including gesture design, evaluation, and insights for nonverbal interaction methods.

Findings

Motion-based communication is accurate and easy to learn.

The system requires no additional hardware.

Gesture recognition is quick enough for practical use.

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a novel method for underwater robot-to-human communication using the motion of the robot as "body language". To evaluate this system, we develop simulated examples of the system's body language gestures, called kinemes, and compare them to a baseline system using flashing colored lights through a user study. Our work shows evidence that motion can be used as a successful communication vector which is accurate, easy to learn, and quick enough to be used, all without requiring any additional hardware to be added to our platform. We thus contribute to "closing the loop" for human-robot interaction underwater by proposing and testing this system, suggesting a library of possible body language gestures for underwater robots, and offering insight on the design of nonverbal robot-to-human communication methods.