Wearable Technologies for Enhanced Soldier Situational Awareness

We present a design and functional prototype of a wearable technology for command and control of a remotely-operated ground vehicle used for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions. A novel interface using hand motions, gestures, and a hands-free display allows the operator to control the robot using standard military hand and arm signals. We leverage existing lightweight wearable sensing and feedback mechanisms to allow soldiers the ability to maintain situational awareness while providing instructions to their robotic squad members. This paper presents recent test results of the system and its sensors using the proposed feedback and control mechanisms.