Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) missions often involve a need to complete tasks in hazardous environments. In such situations, human-robot teams (HRT) may be essential tools for future USAR missions. Transparency and explanation are two information exchange processes where transparency is real-time information exchange and explanation is not. For effective HRTs, certain levels of transparency and explanation must be met, but how can these modes of team communication be operationalized? During the COVID-19 pandemic, our approach to answering this question involved an iterative design process that factored in our research objectives as inputs and pilot studies with remote participants. Our final research testbed design resulted in converting an in-person task environment to a completely remote study and task environment. Changes to the study environment included: utilizing user-friendly video conferencing tools such as Zoom and a custom-built application for research administration tasks and improved modes of HRT communication that helped us avoid confounding our performance measures.
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“I Am Here”: Investigating the Relationship Between Sense ofDirection and Communication of Spatial Information
Navigation is critical for everyday tasks but is especially important for urban search and rescue (USAR) contexts. Aside from successful navigation, individuals must also be able to effectively communicate spatial information. This study investigates how differences in spatial ability affected overall performance in a USAR task in a simulated Minecraft environment and the effectiveness of an individual’s ability to communicate their location verbally. Randomly selected participants were asked to rescue as many victims as possible in three 10-minute missions. Results showed that sense of direction may not predict the ability to communicate spatial information, and that the skill of processing spatial information may be distinct from the ability to communicate spatial information to others. We discuss the implications of these findings for teaming contexts that involve both processes.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1828010
- PAR ID:
- 10432736
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting
- Volume:
- 66
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2169-5067
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 2021 to 2025
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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