KNOWLEDGE DRIVEN PLANNING AND MULTIMODAL CONTROL OF A TELEROBOT

The Multimodal User Supervised Interface and Intelligent Control (MUSI IC) project focuses on a multimodal human-machine interface which addr esses user need to manipulate familiar objects in an unstructured envi ronment. The control of a robot by individuals with significant physic al limitations presents a challenging problem of telemanipulation. Thi s is addressed by a unique user-interface integrating the user's comma nd (speech) and gestures (pointing) with autonomous planning technique s (knowledge-bases and 3-D vision). The resultant test-bed offers the opportunity to study telemanipulation by individuals with physical dis abilities, and can be generalized to an effective technique for other, including remote and time-delayed, telemanipulation. This paper focus es on the knowledge-driven planning mechanism that is central to the M USIIC system.