SBIR-STTR Award

This project will have two products. It will provide 1) an instrumented task battery for assessing the performance of human-controlled robotic systems (HCRS) and 2) a standardized performance assessment system for HCRS's. The task battery will be useful for investigating all aspects of HCR's performance. The results of the performance evaluation system will be independent of user skill, and the procedure will be applicable to robotic systems featuring all currently available controllers (master controllers, resolved-motion rate controllers, and joint-by-joint control). The task battery and performance assessment system will include 1) hardware components including instrumented tasks and data collection equipment, 2) soft- ware necessary for data collection and performance calculation, and 3) written procedures for conducting performance assessments. The task battery will be valid for assessment of robotic manipulators, but not applicable to robotic vehicles. Phase I of the project will 1) identify potential criteria and 2) provide conceptual designs of tasks for use in Phase II. Phase II will include design, fabrication, and testing of task battery and performance assessment system hard- ware and software. Testing will use existing human-controlled robotic systems. The performance assessment system will be validated by comparing performance assessments to how well users complete the task battery using human-controlled robots.