Development and Evaluation of a Human-Robot Interface for an Autonomous All-Terrain Transportation Vehicle in order to Localize, Track and Follow a Human.

Full solutions for automatic transportation vehicles in unstructured environments are restricted to military applications, although possible mission scenarios exist for civil and space applications. In this thesis, a user-friendly, human-robot interface is implemented for an all-terrain electric vehicle. The interface allows the vehicle to follow a moving user autonomously by combining 3D LIDAR measurements with intensity images. The method detects clusters within the LIDAR scan that match the human appearance and resolves potential ambiguities based on image tracking results. The interface can be controlled using different input devices. A detailed evaluation compares the input devices, analyzes the implemented algorithms, and validates the overall system behavior outdoor under real-world conditions. The developed system is able to follow its user as long as he is completely visible