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Interaction Design for Remote Control of Military Unmanned Ground Vehicles

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Interaction Design for Remote Control of Military Unmanned Ground Vehicles Linköping University | Department of Computer and Information Science Master’s thesis, 30 ECTS | Design and Product Development 2021 | LIU-IDA/LITH-EX-A--2021/005--SE Interaction Design for Remote Control of Military Unmanned Ground Vehicles Diana Saleh Supervisor : Mattias Arvola Examiner : Stefan Holmlid Linköpings universitet SE–581 83 Linköping +46 13 28 10 00 , www.liu.se Copyright The publishers will keep this document online on the Internet - or its possible replacement - for a period of 25 years starting from the date of publication barring exceptional circumstances. The online availability of the document implies permanent permission for anyone to read, to down- load, or to print out single copies for his/hers own use and to use it unchanged for non-commercial research and educational purpose. Subsequent transfers of copyright cannot revoke this permission. All other uses of the document are conditional upon the consent of the copyright owner. The publisher has taken technical and administrative measures to assure authenticity, security and accessibility. According to intellectual property law the author has the right to be mentioned when his/her work is accessed as described above and to be protected against infringement. For additional information about the Linköping University Electronic Press and its procedures for publication and for assurance of document integrity, please refer to its www home page: http://www.ep.liu.se/. © Diana Saleh Abstract The fast technology development for military unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) has led to a considerable demand to explore the soldier’s role in an interactive UGV system. This thesis explores how to design interactive systems for UGVs for infantry soldiers in the Swedish Armed Force. This was done through a user-centered design approach in three steps; (1) identifying the design drivers of the targeted military context through qualitative observations and user interviews, (2) using the design drivers to investigate concepts for controlling the UGV, and (3) create and evaluate a prototype of an interactive UGV system design. Results from interviews indicated that design drivers depend on the physical and psy- chological context of the intended soldiers. In addition, exploring the different concepts showed that early conceptual designs helped the user express their needs of a non-existing system. Furthermore, the results indicate that an interactive UGV system does not neces- sarily need to be at the highest level of autonomy in order to be useful for the soldiers on the field. The final prototype of an interactive UGV system was evaluated using a demonstra- tion video, a Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and semi-structured user interviews. Results from this evaluation suggested that the soldiers see the potential usefulness of an interactive UGV system but are not entirely convinced. In conclusion, this thesis argues that in order to design an interactive UGV system, the most critical aspect is the soldiers’ acceptance of the new system. Moreover, for soldiers to accept the concept of military UGVs, it is necessary to understand the context of use and the needs of the soldiers. This is done by involving the soldiers already in the conceptual design process and then throughout the development phases. Acknowledgments Firstly, I would like to thank all of my supervisors at FOI, Anna Häägg, Kristofer Bengtsson, and Björn Johnsson. It has been a pleasure to write my thesis at FOI, and I am grateful for your genuine support. This includes everything from being actors in my demo videos and contributing to my user testings to providing me with knowledge about the military context and reading my reports. Furthermore, I wish to express my sincere appreciation to my supervisor, Mattias Arvola, who has offered me invaluable guidance on the topic of Interaction Design. His persistent help and his words of encouragement have been of the highest value, especially when the roads got rough. Finally, I would like to thank Stefan Holmlid, my examiner at Linköping University. His support and feedback during the examiner seminars have been helpful in my work. iv Contents Abstract iii Acknowledgments iv Contents v List of Figures vii List of Tables viii Terminology and Abbreviations 1 1 Introduction 2 1.1 Background and motivation . 2 1.2 Aim............................................ 2 1.3 Research questions . 3 1.4 Delimitations . 3 2 Theory 4 2.1 Human-Robot Interaction . 4 2.2 Teleoperation . 5 2.3 Unmanned Ground Vehicle Teleoperation in Complex Environments . 6 2.4 Interactive System Design in Telerobotics . 7 3 Methods 9 3.1 Research Through Design Case Study . 9 3.2 User-Centered Design Approach . 10 3.3 Exploration Phase . 10 3.4 Concept Phase . 12 3.5 Prototyping Phase . 12 3.6 User Evaluation Phase . 13 3.7 Research Ethics . 14 4 Results 15 4.1 Exploration Phase . 15 4.2 Concept Phase . 16 4.3 Prototyping Phase . 22 4.4 User Evaluation Phase . 24 5 Discussion 28 5.1 Implication of the results . 28 5.2 Limitations with the method . 30 5.3 The work in a wider context . 30 v 6 Conclusion 32 Bibliography 33 vi List of Figures 2.1 The THeMIS UGV 5th generation. By Milrem Robotics(This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. ........... 7 3.1 The modified Research through Design used in this thesis . 9 3.2 A process picture that gives an overview of the user-centered research approach. 10 3.3 The participants watching the monitor of the remote control of the UAV on big screen . 11 3.4 The Design Drivers. Context, Function and Qualities . 12 3.5 Example of a concept generated using the design drivers . 12 4.1 Concept 1 with main function to guard . 17 4.2 Concept 2 with main function to transport . 18 4.3 Concept 3 with main function to carry . 19 4.4 Concept 4 with main function to carry . 20 4.5 Concept 5 with main function to spy . 21 4.6 Dashboard top bar design proposal 1 . 22 4.7 Dashboard top bar design proposal 2 . 22 4.8 Dashboard bottom bar design proposal 1 . 22 4.9 Dashboard bottom bar design proposal 2 . 22 4.10 Scenario 1: Identify subjects on map . 23 4.11 Scenario 2: Plan a route . 23 4.12 Dashboard design outcome . 23 4.13 Latest dashboard design outcome from the Design Detailing phase . 23 4.14 Final prototype of UI Design for remote control . 24 4.15 Results from the Scenario Questions. 26 vii List of Tables 2.1 HRI definitions based on Goodrich and Schultz definition. 5 2.2 Levels of Automation of decision and action selection . 6 2.3 Five design elements when developing a military UGV . 7 4.1 Context Identification of Military UGVs . 15 4.2 Design Drivers of Military UGVs . 16 4.3 PMI on Concept 1 . 17 4.4 PMI for Concept 2 . 18 4.5 PMI for Concept 3 . 19 4.6 PMI for Concept 4 . 20 4.7 PMI for Concept 5 . 21 4.8 The main functions of the UGV and the specified functions of the user interface. 22 4.9 Desired, Interesting and Necessary aspects of the prototype. 23 4.10 The average answers to the six questions that revolved around usefulness. 25 4.11 Perceived Usefulness of the Average Participant . 25 4.12 Opportunities and limitations with military UGVs . 27 4.13 Potential use cases with military UGVs . 27 viii Terminology and Abbreviations FOI The Swedish Defence Research Agency HRI Human-Robot Interaction UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle UGV Unmanned Ground Vehicle 1 1 Introduction The following chapter presents the basis of the work carried out in collaboration with FOI, the Swedish Defence Research Agency. It contains the background and motivation for the research study followed by the aim, the research questions, and the delimitations. 1.1 Background and motivation Today, a soldier in the field carries about 30-40 kg of packing, which in the long run affects the soldiers’ endurance and performance. To make it easier for the soldiers, and preserve their strength and energy, research is conducted on how to use Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) as a carrying aid. These UGVs for carrying, are not used in the Swedish Armed Forces today but are becoming more of interest as the technology of autonomous vehicles is developing at a rapid pace. Currently, the intended UGVs are not entirely autonomous and need some form of remote control from an operator. Therefore the remote control must be designed in a way that allows the operator to use and maneuver the UGV under the complex conditions prevailing. This applies to both the graphical interface, the selection of information that appears on the screen, and the physical design of the remote control. The research is performed in collaboration with FOI, the Swedish Defence Research Agency, which is a government authority under the Ministry of Defence and one of Europe’s leading research institutes in defense and security. In this thesis, the end-users are infantry soldiers at the Swedish Armed Forces. 1.2 Aim The aim of this thesis is to explore the usefulness of interactive UGV systems design for infantry soldiers on the field. The goal is to investigate, prototype and test interfaces for interaction between humans and unmanned systems. 2 1.3. Research questions 1.3 Research questions Based on the aim of this thesis, the main research question is: "How do we design interactive unmanned ground vehicle systems for infantry soldiers on the field?" In order to answer the main research question, the question is broken down into three re- search questions that further represent the phases of the project. 1. What characterizes the context of use for infantry soldiers on the field and what is im- portant to consider in the design of an interactive UGV system for this context? 2.
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