Dr.Du and colleagues from University of Florida, University of Hawaii, Manoa, University of Tennessee, and American Bureau of Shipping are awarded $2M by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Future of Work at Human-Technology Frontier (FW-HTF) program, to explore the next-gen VR-based subsea robot teleoperation and how it will shape the future of subsea engineering. The multidisciplinary team integrates expertises in human-robot interaction, ROV design, human factors, machine learning, fluid mechanics, adult learning, and economics. This project will develop and test a new underwater human-robot interaction (HRI) method, called human-robot sensory transfer, which transfers and simulates robot sensor data of subsea workplaces as human-perceivable multimodal sensory feedback, including visual, tactile, haptics, and force feedback to enable a shared perception in complex subsea workplaces. The team will also measure the impacts of the proposed technology on the prospective subsea workers in terms of functions and motivation, which will build the foundation for workforce transformation and industry adoption.

For more information: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2128895&HistoricalAwards=false