Research Projects

Hydra: A Framework and Algorithms for Mixed-Initiative UAV-Assisted Search and Rescue

Ephrat Bitton¹, Siamak Faridani² and Ken Goldberg

National Science Foundation and Air Force Office of Scientific Research

We are developing Hydra, a testbed and algorithms for collaborative human and automated decision making within the context of outdoor search and rescue. Hydra is a networked simulation tool that allows human and automated agents operating under different assumptions to share control over a set of UAVs with cameras, with the goal of locating a hidden subject as quickly as possible. The agents are modeled on a pre-defined hierarchy of authority, and the search space is characterized by varying degrees of obstructions. Search is based on iterating the following cycle of four steps: 1) all agents generate image requests based on their individual probability density functions, 2) Hydra collects requests and computes an optimal assignment of images to the UAVs, 3) Hydra processes the resulting image data and specifies whether or not the subject was detected, and 4) all agents update their pdfs. We have shown via simulation of a scenario with three agents and one UAV that our method performs 57.7% better than a theoretical upper bound for a single agent and UAV. Future work will include experiments using a robotic camera to find and photograph birds in a natural environment in conjunction with the CONE Welder project. Profs. Claire Tomlin, Shankar Sastry, and Pravin Varaiya also provided feedback on this project.

Figure 1: Three UAVs with mounted cameras are controlled by a sequence of frame requests from distributed human and automated agents.

Figure 2: E. Bitton and K. Goldberg. Hydra: A Framework and Algorithms for Mixed-Initiative UAV-Assisted Search and Rescue. Proceedings of the 4th IEEE Conference on Automation Science and Engineering, 2008.

[1]

E. Bitton and K. Goldberg. Hydra: A Framework and Algorithms for Mixed-Initiative UAV-Assisted Search and Rescue. Proceedings of the 4th IEEE Conference on Automation Science and Engineering, 2008.

¹IEOR PhD Student
²IEOR PhD Student

More information: http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~ebitton/research/hydra