Robotics week8 Flashcards
Definition of a robot swarm / Human-Robot Interaction (17 cards)
What core characteristics define a swarm robotics system
Dencentralised control(no central leader)
Simple individual agents
Local interaction
High scalability, robustness, and flexibility
In swarm robotics, what does “emergent behaviour” refer to?
Complex group - level patterns or tasks that arise from simple, local interaction rules executed by eache robot, rather than being explicitly programmed at the group level.
Advantage : Scalability
Why are swarm systems considered highly scalable?
Because each robot follows the same local rule set independently
Adding or removing robots does not require reprogramming or redesign, so group performance degrades or improves smoothly with swarm size
Advantage: Robustness
How does a swarm maintain robust operation despite individual failures?
Since control is decentralised and each robot only uses local data, the failure of one or several robots has minimal impact; the remainder continue to perform the task
Flocking Rules (Reynolds’ Boids)
What are the three key rules in Reynolds’ flocking model, often used in swarm robotics
- Separation: avoid crowding neighbors
- Alignment: match velocity with nearby robots
- Cohesion: Steer toward average position of neighbors
Common Swarm behaviours
Name three canonical swarm behaviours and briefly
Aggregation (robots converge to form clusters)
Flocking (robots align direction and maintain formation)
Foraging (robots search, find, and retrieve objects)
ex) in foraging, robots individually explore, locate targets, and carry them back
Stigmergy in Swarms
What is stigmergy, and how is it used in swarm robotics?
Stigmergy in swarms’ indirect coordination via modifications to the environment -> robots deposit or sense markers so others react without direct communication
Consensus Algorithms
What role do concensus algorithms play in swarm robotics?
They allow the swarm to reach a common agreement (heading, resource allocation, task allocation) based soley on local information exchanges, ensuring coherent group-level decision
Role of local Sensing and communication
Why are local sensing and communication crucial to swarm functionality?
Because they preserve decentralisation
Metrics for Evaluating Swarm Performance
Name and define two standard metrics used to evaluate swarm robotics
Scalabilty : How well the swarm’s performance scales up or down with varying swarm sizes.
Flexibility: The swarm’s ability to adapt to changing environments or tasks without reprogramming individual robots
Robustness: The swarms’ capacity to tolerate robot failures or environmental disturbances without catastophic loss of function.
Definition of HRI
What does HRI stand for, and what is its primary focus?
Human-Robot Interaction: studying how humans and robots communicate, collaborate, and coexist, aiming to make robot behaviour intuitive, safe, and socially acceptable for users
HRI Dimensions
List three dimensions of HRI design and briefly explain one.
Physical Interaction:
safe and effective co-manipulation or shard workspaces.
Cognitive Interaction:
how robots share intentions, goal, and maintain situational awareness with humans.
Social Interaction:
using gestures, speech, or expessions to convey emotions and maintain trust.
Levels of Robot Autonomy in HRI
What are the typical levels of robot autonomy, and how do they affect HRI?
Teleoperation: full human control—robot is an extension of the operator.
Shared Control: both human and robot contribute (e.g., robot stabilizes while human directs).
Supervisory Control: human sets high-level goals; robot plans and executes.
Full Autonomy: robot decides and acts without human intervention.
– The higher the autonomy, the more HRI shifts from direct control to trust and monitoring tasks .
Trust and Transparency
Why is transparency important for fostering trust in HRI?
Because if users can understand a robot’s decision processes (e.g., through explanations or status indicators), they are more likely to trust and effectively collaborate with it, reducing uncertainty and anxiety .
Safety in Physical HRI
Name two key safety considerations when humans and robots share a workspace.
Collision avoidance: using sensors (e.g., force/torque) to detect imminent contact and react safely.
Force limitations: mechanical designs or control algorithms that limit contact forces below harmful thresholds to prevent injury
Speech Recognition and Synthesis
What challenge is particularly notable when integrating speech into HRI?
Dealing with ambient noise and speaker variability (accents, speed), which can cause misrecognition; also, generating natural-sounding speech that conveys appropriate emotion and timing .
Usability Metrics for HRI
What are two common usability metrics used to evaluate HRI systems?
Task Completion Time: How long it takes a human–robot team to complete a shared task.
User Satisfaction: Subjective ratings on how comfortable, natural, or effective users perceive the interaction .
