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Flying Drones on Mars: How Gravity Affects Self-Motion Estimation in Human Drone Pilots

drones on Mars

Are you a student interested in a semester project, master thesis or internship on drones? Check out the available opportunities in the UZH Robotics & Perception Group!

Drones offer enormous potential for Mars exploration in search of habitable environments above and underground. Human-in-the-loop drone operations will provide remote sensing and delivery capabilities beyond the state-of-the-art of fully autonomous systems. However, it is currently unknown how altered gravity conditions (such as microgravity) affect the vision-based self-motion estimation of drone operators under conditions of uncertainty. In this project, we experimentally investigate how gravity affects decision-making in human subjects. The student will develop an experimental paradigm to test the effects of gravity of self-motion estimation using Unity3D and Python, collect behavioral responses and flight data from human drone pilots, and statistically analyze these data.

Project duration: 1-6 month

Goal: The goal is to understand how gravity affects vision-based self-motion perception in human drone pilots.

Requirements:
● BSc in Cognitive Science, Psychology, Computer Science, or a related field
● Programming experience in Python/Matlab, Unity3D
● Background in statistical analysis/data science methods
● Interest in human subjects research and human-machine interaction

Deadline: applications will be reviewed until the positions are filled

Visit the Robotics and Perception Group homepage for more information and apply.