Conceptual Design of Human-Drone Communication in Collaborative Environments

Abstract: Autonomous robots and drones will work collaboratively and cooperatively in tomorrow's industry and agriculture. Before this becomes a reality, some form of standardised communication between man and machine must be established that specifically facilitates communication between autonomous machines and both trained and untrained human actors in the working environment. We present preliminary results on a human-drone and a drone-human language situated in the agricultural industry where interactions with trained and untrained workers and visitors can be expected. We present basic visual indicators enhanced with flight patterns for drone-human interaction and human signaling based on aircraft marshaling for humane-drone interaction. We discuss preliminary results on image recognition and future work.