SLQR suboptimal human-robot collaborative guidance and navigation for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

In this paper, a novel approach to the human-robot collaborative guidance and navigation of autonomous vehicles is proposed. The switched linear quadratic regulator (SLQR) is utilized as a method of determining when control of the autonomous vehicle should be switched from autonomous control to manual teleoperation or vice versa. This switching is determined by a quadratic cost function that takes into account both robot performance and human workload. A linearized model of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is derived and used for the purpose of simulations of the proposed controller. The performance of the proposed controller is also compared to that of a fully autonomous and fully manual control.