Human Robot Interface Design for Hospital Robot Swarm

Robots have been traditionally exploited in production engineering to boost productivity and competitiveness in manufacturing systems. More recently, robotics and its related technologies are progressively and substantially entering homes and public places with the scope to improve the quality level of human life and welfare. As this new trend requires robots increasingly capable to collaborate and work closely with people, the design of a suitable Human Robot Interface (HRI) has then become a fundamental issue in robotics, since it can enable efficient and effortless robots-user communication. In this research work, the problem of configuring the most appropriate HRI to be implemented on a robot swarm for hospital care is investigated. With the aim to get a full view of the potential tools offered on the market, the most relevant available HRIs are presented and evaluated by taking into account the specific requirements imposed by the hospital environment and the potential users. The most suitable interface is identified using a Multi-Attribute Decision Making (MADM) method based on the Simple Additive Weight (SAW) aggregation technique coupled with the Linear Scale Transformation Max Method and eventually configured with reference to an application test case concerning the delivery of medicines within the hospital area.