Vocal human-robot interaction inspired by Battle management language

A prototype conversational interface has been developed to facilitate spoken interaction between humans and robots. The focus is on end-users such as security officers including military personnel who would conduct missions with robot partners in close proximity. The focal group is familiar with Battle Management Language, a variation of natural language that is restricted to avoid ambiguity. This language is chosen, given its familiarity, to inspire natural spoken interaction with robots and to avoid the greater challenge of full natural language processing. To achieve this, an open-source framework for building applications with conversational interfaces, Dorset, was interfaced to a research mobile robot enabling spoken voice commands and responses. The completed prototype successfully demonstrated feasibility and potential for advancing interaction with robots from current head-down, hands-on approaches toward a more natural head-up, hands-off paradigm suitable for humans and robots working in close proximity to one another.