ASTM International

Standard Test Method for Evaluating Emergency Response Robot Capabilities: Human-System Interaction (HSI): Search Tasks: Random Mazes with Complex Terrain
 N E2853

Annotation

Purpose:

The purpose of this test method, as a part of a suite of human-system interactions (HSI) test methods, is to quantitatively evaluate a teleoperated ground robot's (see Terminology E2521) capability of searching in a maze.

Teleoperated robots shall possess a certain set of HSI capabilities to suit critical operations such as emergency responses, including enabling the operators to search for required targets. A passage that forms on complex terrains and possesses complex and visually similar branches is a type of environments that exists in emergency response and other robotically applicable situations. The complexity often poses challenges for the operators to teleoperate the robots to conduct searches. This test method is based on a standard maze and specifies metrics and a procedure for testing the search capability.

Emergency response robots shall enable the operator to handle many types of tasks. The required HSI capabilities include search and navigation on different types of terrains, passages, and confined spaces. Standard test methods are required to evaluate whether candidate robots meet these requirements.

ASTM E54.08.01 Task Group on Robotics specifies a HSI test suite, which consists of a set of test methods for evaluating these HSI capability requirements. This random maze searching test method is a part of the HSI test suite. The apparatuses associated with the test methods challenge specific robot capabilities in repeatable ways to facilitate comparison of different robot models as well as particular configurations of similar robot models.

The test methods quantify elemental HSI capabilities necessary for ground robots intended for emergency response applications. As such, based on their particular capability requirements, users of this test suite can select only the applicable test methods and can individually weight particular test methods or particular metrics within a test method. The testing results should collectively represent a ground robot's overall HSI capability. The test results can be used to guide procurement specifications and acceptance testing for robots intended for emergency response applications.