Intelligent User Interface for Roombots

Roombots are self-reconfigurable modular robots designed to study robotic reconfiguration and adaptive locomotion. One of the main goals of this platform is to be used as adaptive furniture inside human living spaces such as homes or offices. For this reason, instead of the classical Graphical User Interface methods used up to now, we propose a novel and more natural way of interaction with the Roombots modules on a Roombots grid, called the Intelligent Roombots User Interface. In our method, the user commands the Roombots modules using pointing gestures and desired target locations. The user’s body is tracked using multiple Kinects. The user is also given realtime visual feedback of their physical actions and the state of the system via LED illumination electronics installed on both Roombots modules and the grid. We demonstrate how to use our interface and conclude by discussing future extensions and ideas.