27. Robots to the Rescue: Mixed-initiative human-robot teaming for disaster response
Jun 20, 2009 7838 views 
The humanoid robot Nexi and a team of robot helicopters are deployed in response to a simulated fire aboard a Navy ship. Working together with a remote human operator, the robots search for survivors and guide them to safety. A mixed-initiative tasking system allows the human operator to specify team goals via a tasking interface, and also allows goals to be generated by the robots as a result of local observations and interactions with victims. The robots autonomously handle the details of navigation and task execution, and communicate their location, task status, and important observations to the operator via the interface. The interface also allows the robots to ask for the operator's help with difficult recognition problems, such as confirming the location of a victim from a partial identification.