ONR, UCF Improving Robotics for Military Training Scenarios
Human surrogate. Photo: Office of Naval Research.
The Office of Naval Research launched a study with the University of Central Florida as part of ONR’s Human Surrogate Interaction program, which is a three-year project investigating how humans interact with virtual, physical and other types of robotic surrogates.
This experiment will last for several weeks observing a remotely operated surrogate greeting and interacting with people passing through the lobby of UCF’s Institute for Simulation and Training.
Upon completion, researchers will use what they have learned to demonstrate surrogate use in more complex scenarios involving greater human-robot interaction.
“Marine Corps training concepts continue to merge virtual and live components to create the most realistic, effective and affordable training for Marines,” says ONR Program Director Dr. Peter Squire. “The way people react to and interact with the different surrogates in this study is crucial to understanding how we can improve our military training systems.”
Part of the research supports the development of Avatar Mediated Interactive Training and Individual Experience System. AMITIES is a framework that allows for control of surrogates through voice modulation, artificial intelligence, network protocols and human control that will allow a single human to operate multiple surrogates.
“If human role players are not available because of cost or other reasons, this research will help us understand the type of surrogate to replace them with so that the level of training is not diminished,” says Squire.
Recently, an actor used a robot with AMITIES to play the part of an Afghani villager seeking compensation for goats that had been killed, according to an ONR press release.
