HI-DWA: Human-Influenced Dynamic Window Approach for Shared Control of a Telepresence Robot

TL;DR

This paper introduces HI-DWA, a shared control method for telepresence robots that allows users to influence autonomous navigation, improving user experience and efficiency in virtual reality environments.

Contribution

The paper presents HI-DWA, a novel shared control approach based on DWA that enables user influence on robot path planning in telepresence scenarios.

Findings

Users reached goals faster with HI-DWA.

HI-DWA was rated easier to use than switching modes.

Preference was split between control methods, with control feeling being a key factor.

Abstract

This paper considers the problem of enabling the user to modify the path of a telepresence robot. The robot is capable of autonomously navigating to a goal predefined by the user, but the user might still want to modify the path, for example, to go further away from other people, or to go closer to landmarks she wants to see on the way. We propose Human-Influenced Dynamic Window Approach (HI-DWA), a shared control method aimed for telepresence robots based on Dynamic Window Approach (DWA) that allows the user to influence the control input given to the robot. To verify the proposed method, we performed a user study (N=32) in Virtual Reality (VR) to compare HI-DWA with switching between autonomous navigation and manual control for controlling a simulated telepresence robot moving in a virtual environment. Results showed that users reached their goal faster using HI-DWA controller and found it easier to use. Preference between the two methods was split equally. Qualitative analysis revealed that a major reason for the participants that preferred switching between two modes was the feeling of control. We also analyzed the effect of different input methods, joystick and gesture, on the preference and perceived workload.