Design and evaluation of an UI for astronauts to control mobile robots on planetary surfaces

With an advancing plan to send humans on planetary missions again, there will be an increasing need for direct on- surface robot control as interaction between robots and humans will increase with increasing sophistication and complexity of tasks. Remote control from Earth with long delays in communication will not be possible through the direct interaction on the surface. Although a higher degree of autonomy of the robots themselves will also play a role, there is a fundamental lack of interfaces for astronauts to control robots on future planetary missions. This research emerged from participation in the AMADEE-24 Mars simulation by the Austrian Space Forum, which focus on researching future human-robot missions on Mars. We designed and evaluated user interface (UI) prototypes for mobile robots operated by astronauts by using a usercentered design approach and incorporated astronaut feedback. We tested the resulting functional prototype in hypothetical scenarios which demonstrated in a low error rate. This affirms the effectiveness of customized user interfaces for specific mission needs. We advocate for adaptability and user involvement to enhance human-robot interaction for planetary exploration. This work not only addresses the need for intuitive robot control systems but also presents potential UI layouts for future human-robotic mission interfaces.