Experiments in Adjustable Autonomy

Human-robot interaction is becoming an increasingly important research area. In this paper, we present our work on designing a human-robot system with adjustable autonomy and describe not only the prototype interface but also the corresponding robot behaviors. In our approach, we grant the human meta-level control over the level of robot autonomy, but we allow the robot a varying amount of self-direction with each level. Within this framework of adjustable autonomy, we explore appropriate interface concepts for controlling multiple robots from multiple platforms.