Hyoung Il Son

Alumni of the Department Human Perception, Cognition and Action
Alumni of the Group Autonomous Robotics and Human-Machine Systems
Alumni of the Group Cybernetics Approach to Perception and Action

Main Focus

Son, Hyoung Il received the B.S. and M.S. degrees from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, Pusan, Korea, in 1998 and 2000, respectively and the Ph.D degree from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology(KAIST), Daejeon, Korea in 2010. He is a research scientist of the Department of Human Perception, Cognition and Action, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tuebingen, Germany from April 2010.

From January to March in 2010 he workes as a researcher in the Intelligent Control System LaboratoryInstitute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. He was a senior researcher in the Mobile Display Center, LCD Business, Samsung Electronics, Korea from 2005 to 2009 and in the Production Engineering Research Institute, LG Electronics, Korea from 2003 to 2005. In industry he was involved in several projects regarding a development and innovation of a robotic manipulator and a inspection equipment in LCD and semiconductor fabrication process.

<Research Interests>
-Robotics: Haptics, Teleoperation, Bio/Medical Robotics, Swarm Robotics, Psychophysical Validation
-Systems and Control: Discrete Event and Hybrid Systems, Supervisory Control, Factory Automation, Machine Vision

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Human-Centered Design and Evaluation of Haptic Teleoperation for Multiple Mobile Robots

Introduction

The use of multi-robot systems, when compared to single robot approaches, allows several improvements to be achieved in terms of performance, e.g., completion time and robustness. While recent years have seen increasing research on the development of bilateral teleoperation algorithms that can efficiently and robustly control multiple mobile robots (e.g., Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)) [1], comparatively less attention has been devoted towards understanding how teleoperation performance can be improved with regards to the human operator in this considerably different task [2]. Given this level of interest in multiple-mobile-robot teleoperation, we believe that it is worthwhile to investigate how human control performance can be assessed within this context.

Goals

In this project, our aim is to propose a number of haptic feedback schemes for the teleoperation of multiple UAVs that could increase the operator’s performance in maneuvering the remote UAVs.

Methods

Psychophysical experiment evaluations are conducted for testing three kinds of haptic cues w.r.t. two most relevant performance indexes (maneuverability [3] and perceptual sensitivity [4]) in the field of mobile robot teleoperation (Figure 1).

Results

The experimental results clearly show that the maneuverability performance is best supported by the Force cue feedback. The results further show that the Velocity cue feedback confers a better perceptual sensitivity to the teleoperator than the other haptic cue feedbacks.

Conclusion

Maneuverability performance as well as perceptual awareness is equally important qualities during bilateral teleoperation. In light of this, the appropriate haptic feedback algorithm ought to be selected according to the application and the objective of the operator. The current evaluation of fabricated haptic cues for their influence on performance should allow us to design better algorithms for controlling multiple UAVs [5].

Figure 1. Experimental setup. Subject with haptic device (Omega 3) and Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs)

References

1.      Lee D., Franchi A., Robuffo Giordano P., Son H. I., Bülthoff H. H. (2011) Haptic Teleoperation of Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles over the Internet IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation 1341-1347.

2.      Franchi A., Secchi C., Son H. I., Bülthoff H. H., Robuffo Giordano P. (2011) Bilateral Teleoperation of Groups of Mobile Robots with Time-Varying Topology IEEE Transactions on Robotics (accepted).

3.      Son H. I., Chuang L. L., Franchi A., Kim J., Lee D., Lee S.-W., Bülthoff H. H., Robuffo Giordano P. (2011) Measuring an Operator's Maneuverability Performance in the Haptic Teleoperation of Multiple Robots IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems 3039-3046.

4.      Son H. I., Kim J., Chuang L. L., Franchi A., Robuffo Giordano P., Lee D., Bülthoff H. H.  (2011) An Evaluation of Haptic Cues on the Tele-Operator's Perceptual Awareness of Multiple UAVs' Environments IEEE World Haptics Conference 149-154.

5.      Son H. I., Franchi A., Chuang L. L., Kim J., Bülthoff H. H., Robuffo Giordano P. (2011) Human-Centered Design and Evaluation of Haptic Cueing for Teleoperation of Multiple Mobile Robots IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part B: Cybernetics (submitted).

Curriculum Vitae


Education

  • Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, January 2010
-Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Korea
-Advisor: Professor Doo Yong Lee
-Thesis: Control for Optimized Kinesthetic Perception in Scaled Teleoperation of Soft Tissues
  • M.S. in Mechanical and Intelligent Systems Engineering, August 2000
-Department of Mechanical and Intelligent Systems Engineering, Pusan National University, Pusan, Korea
-Advisor: Professor Suk Lee
-Thesis: Failure Diagnosis and Recovery of Discrete Event Systems
  • B.S. in Mechanical and Production Engineering, February 1998
-Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering, Pusan National University, Pusan, Korea
-Advisor: Professor Suk Lee
-Graduation Research: Development of Three-Legged Walking Robot


Professional Experiences

  • Academic Experiences
- April 2010 - Present, Research Scientist (Postdoctoral Associate)
at Department of Human Perception, Cognition and Action, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tuebingen, Germany

- January 2010 - March 2010, Researcher (Postdoctoral Associate)
at Intelligent Control System Laboratory, Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

- February 2009 -December 2009, Research Assistant
at KAIST, Daejeon, Korea
- Topics: Control of a Novel Actuated and Remotely-Controlled Gastrointestinal Endoscope, Teleoperation of Dual-Arm Robot

- September 1999 - February 2000, Research Assistant
at Pusan National University, Pusan, Korea
- Topic: Development of Supervisory Control System for Manufacturing Cell
  • Industry Experiences
- December 2005 - November 2009, Senior Researcher
at Equipment Innovation Group, Mobile Display Center, LCD Business, Samsung Electronics, Cheonan, Korea
- Team Leader
- Topic: Development and Innovation of Robotic Manipulator and Inspection Equipment in LCD Fabrication

- January 2003 - November 2005, Senior Researcher
at Evaluation Technology Group, Production Research Engineering Institute, LG Electronics, Pyungtaek, Korea
- Topic: Control System Integration of Inspection Equipment and Development of Inspection Algorithm for Defects in Flat Panel Display

  • Teaching Experiences
- September 2007 - January 2009, Teaching Assistant
at KAIST, Daejeon, Korea
- Subjects: Modeling and Control of Engineering Systems, Introduction to Robotics Engineering, Automatic Control

- September 2000 - December 2003, Teaching Assistant
at KAIST, Daejeon, Korea
- Subjects: Electronics Laboratory for Mechanical Engineers, Applied Electronics, Automatic Control, Computer Integrated Manufacturing

- March 1998 - August 1999, Teaching Assistant
at Pusan National University, Pusan, Korea
- Subjects: Basic Experiment of Electronics, Manufacturing Automation


Professional Activities

- ad hoc reviewer for
IEEE Transactions on Robotics
IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology
IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Part B: Cybernetics
IEEE Transactions on Haptics
IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics
International Journal of Medical Robotics and Computer Assisted Surgery
Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing
and several Conferences (ICRA, IROS, EMBC, and etc)


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