Design and development of a semi‐autonomous agricultural vineyard sprayer: Human–robot interaction aspects |
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| Authors: | George Adamides Christos Katsanos Ioannis Constantinou Georgios Christou Michalis Xenos Thanasis Hadzilacos Yael Edan |
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| Affiliation: | 1. School of Pure and Applied Sciences, Open University of Cyprus, Latsia |Lefkosia, Cyprus;2. School of Science and TechnologyHellenic Open University, Patras, Greece;3. Department of Business AdministrationTechnological Educational Institute of Western Greece, Patras, Greece;4. Educational Technology Lab, Open University of Cyprus, Latsia |Lefkosia, Cyprus;5. School of Sciences, European University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus;6. Department of Computer Engineering & InformaticsUniversity of Patras, Patras, Greece;7. Department of Industrial Engineering & Management, Ben‐Gurion University of the Negev Beer‐Sheva, Israel |
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| Abstract: | This article presents the design aspects and development processes to transform a general‐purpose mobile robotic platform into a semi‐autonomous agricultural robot sprayer focusing on user interfaces for teleoperation. The hardware and the software modules that must be installed onto the system are described, with particular emphasis on human–robot interaction. Details of the technology are given focusing on the user interface aspects. Two laboratory experiments and two studies in the field to evaluate the usability of the user interface provide evidence for the increased usability of a prototype robotic system. Specifically, the study aimed to empirically evaluate the type of target selection input device mouse and digital pen outperformed Wiimote in terms of usability. A field experiment evaluated the effect of three design factors: (a) type of screen output, (b) number of views, (c) type of robot control input device. Results showed that participants were significantly more effective but less efficient when they had multiple views, than when they had a single view. PC keyboard was also found to significantly outperform PS3 gamepad in terms of interaction efficiency and perceived usability. Heuristic evaluations of different user interfaces were also performed using research‐based HRI heuristics. Finally, a study on participants’ overall user experience found that the system was evaluated positively on the User Experience Questionnaire scales. |
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| Keywords: | Human‐robot interaction agricultural robot user interface design usability user experience |
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