HUME: HUman-machine teaming for Maritime Environments

EPSRC | Prosperity Partnership | Grant No. EP/V05676X/1 | 2021-2024 

Overview

The HUME project is a pioneering effort in robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), seeking to transform work in hazardous and challenging environments. HUME aims to develop intelligent robotic systems capable of performing complex tasks in collaboration with human operators that might be located remotely, reducing the need for continuous monitoring and supervision. HUME envisages a future where human-robot teams work in synergy: robots, equipped with advanced AI and sensor technology, undertake on-site operations in harsh environments, while human operators manage these operations remotely. This approach not only minimises human exposure to dangerous conditions but also leverages human expertise in decision-making processes, combining human reasoning and robotic precision. To do so, HUME brings together industry and academic expertise in maritime robotics, AI, data analysis, and human-machine interaction to achieve the project's main objectives: enhancing collaborative interfaces for human-machine and human-human teaming, extending robotic perception for understanding complex environments, and exploring methods for explaining robot perception, reasoning, and decision making, to increase operator trust and confidence.

HUME is a collaboration between Heriot-Watt University and SeeByte, supported through the EPSRC Prosperity Partnership programme. Building on a 20-year strategic relationship, with SeeByte originally a spin-out company of Heriot-Watt in 2001 and now a world leader in maritime autonomy, HUME aims to make significant progress towards realising the project's vision of transforming high-risk work environments through the deployment of intelligent human-robot teams, performing challenging tasks in hazardous conditions and working collaboratively with one another and with human operators.