Deep Space & Haptic Interactions of the HRI Kind

MIT SpaceCHI
Academic Paper

ROLE

Initiator and First Author

DESCRIPTION

Humanity’s greatest accomplishment will be its expansion into a multi-planetary species. For mankind to achieve this goal, we must extend our knowledge in the processes involved with conducting space exploration. Manned missions conducted in EV (extravehicular) environments have added dangers and risks, including partial or full loss of communication with ground control or their space crew. Following technological advancements, there has been a rise of human-robot teams operating autonomously for such precarious missions.

This paper describes several approaches in human-robot interactions, and then focuses more specifically on the ability of autonomous robots to remotely engage with their human teammates in deep space through diverse haptic interactions to enhance safety and spatial awareness. In addition a conceptual prototype is presented to demonstrate this HRI medium using a haptic feedback system embedded in the space suit of an astronaut.

My paper was accepted to SpaceCHI, an HCI workshop for space exploration hosted by MIT. It was a unique experience to participate in a week of virtual activities that included brainstorming future space solutions, networking and an inclusive talk with former astronaut Jeff Hoffman. Excited for the future of space!

KEYWORDS

Deep Space; Human-Robot Interaction; Haptic Feedback; Space Exploration. 

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