Description: CHI Systems and the Institute for Human Machine Cognition have teamed to create a human-robot interaction system that leverages cognitive representations of shared context as a basis for a fundamentally new approach to human-robotic interaction. This approach centers on a framework for representing context, and for using context to enable robot adaptive decision-making and behavior. The framework is called CARIL (the Context-Augmented Robotic Interaction Layer). Context is an important part of human-human interaction. Unfortunately, context is often overlooked when designing robotic systems. The challenge is to translate high-level concepts, such as teamwork and collaboration, into specific requirements that can be implemented within control algorithms, interface elements, and behaviors. During Phase I, CHI Systems developed a proof-of-concept CARIL implementation and applied it to a notional simulated robot in a simple station model. This simulation demonstrated CARIL's feasibility by demonstrating how it gave the simulated robot a capability to reason about its context to avoid spatial interference with astronaut activities and tasks.

Benefits: CARIL allows a robot to have "action compliance" – an ability to adapt its behavior to that of human astronauts around it, by using a human-like model of context. Action Compliance, the behavioral analog of physical-interaction force compliance concept, is an enabling capability. Its post-applications are to the Robonaut-2 program at Johnson Space Center, the Free-flying robot (SPHERES) program at Ames Research Center, and as an embeddable, enabling technology, to all future robotic or robotic programs or future missions requiring robots or robotic vehicles.

Military Robot and Uninhabited Robot Vehicles (URV) Markets – provide increased robotic autonomy and enhanced human-robotic control to military URV applications. Civil/Commercial Robot and Uninhabited Robot Vehicles (URV) Markets – provide increased human-robot collaboration and adaptive behaviors to business whose future strategy relies on the use of robots and drones to optimize manufacturing, supply-chain and distribution processes.