14 DAY TRIAL // Researchers have been exploring scenarios in which Microsoft Surface can be leveraged as a robot command and control center, and it appears that they’re making real progress. Make sure to watch the video embedded below in order to get an idea of how the natural user interface (NUI) capabilities of Microsoft Surface can be leveraged in order to control real world robots.
The Robotics Lab at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell (UML) has blended Microsoft Surface with the Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio in order to kick up a notch the level of control of search-and-rescue robots, building the DREAM Controller.
“The Surface allows multiple users to interact with the computer simultaneously by using whole-hand or multiple-finger gestures,” revealed Stewart Tansley, Senior Researcher Program Manager from Microsoft Research mentioned in the Microsoft Research.
“These gestures enable rescue teams to control robots with greater dexterity than they could with traditional robotics controllers—and precise control of the robots is critical for search-and-rescue efforts. In addition, the Surface permits more than one robot to be controlled simultaneously—previously not possible with a single controller.”
DREAM is an acronym for Dynamically Resizing Ergonomic and Multi-Touch, a Microsoft Surface-based NUI virtual joystick.
Extremely important is the fact that the DREAM controller can associate natural gestures with a specific command, or a series of commands that can be programmed.
Essentially, robots can be controlled with mundane gestures that users perform every day.
“The novel NUI approach to robotics that was employed by the Lowell robotics lab in this socially significant application helped the DREAM Controller project win one of eight grants that Microsoft Research offered under our Social Human Robot Interaction Request for Proposals (RFP),” Tansley added.
“The grant award included financial support, a donated Microsoft Surface, and access to the Microsoft Research team.”