Engineers design UxV controllers

PANAMA CITY, Fla. -- Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division scientists and engineers have designed unmanned system controllers for a younger generation of sailor raised on video-game systems. The latest proof-of-concept uses an Xbox Kinect to deliver gesture-based robotic controls. It's been demonstrated as a viable interface for human-machine interaction with omni-directional vehicles. Gesture-based robot control and similar approaches that utilize "human-centric" interaction with unmanned-systems opens a door to the future of effective human-robot teams in which communication is natural, reducing training requirements. (Source: NNS, 03/16/12)