Context Sensitive Tactile Displays for Bidirectional HRI Communications

Tactile displays have shown high potential to support critical communications, by relaying information, queries, and direction cues from the robot to the Soldier in a hands-free manner. Similarly, Soldiers can communicate to the robot through speech, gesture, or visual display. They could also respond to robot messages by pressing a button to acknowledge or request a repeat message. A series of studies have demonstrated the ability of Soldiers to interpret tactile direction and information cues during waypoint navigation in rough terrain, during day and night operations. The design of tactile display systems must result in reliable message detection. We have proposed a framework to ensure salience of the tactile cues. In this presentation we summarize research efforts that explore factors affecting the efficacy of tactile cues for bidirectional soldier-robot communications. We will propose methods for changing tactile salience based on the symbology and context.