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Multimodal Task Assignment and Introspection in Distributed Agricultural Harvesting Processes

Authors:
Daniel Porta
Zeynep Tuncer
Michael Wirth
Michael Hellenschmidt

Keywords: Multimodal Dialogue; Task Assignment; Task Introspection; Agriculture; Harvesting Process.

Abstract:
Harvesting processes are in fact industrial manufacturing processes that follow a tight schedule. Unexpected incidents can disturb a harvest and require a replanning of the process in order to avoid severe financial losses. When a new plan has been found, it must be communicated to the affected process participants, i.e., drivers of agricultural machinery. This paper presents a cloud-based system for orchestrating and coordinating a fleet of agricultural machinery and their drivers during an ongoing harvest in case of an unexpected incident. A management dashboard allows the real-time replanning of a harvesting process and sends updated instructions to each affected driver's mobile device. The paper focuses on the communication between the contractor and a driver in the field as well as the interaction of the driver with his mobile device. It is explained how the system accomplishes a fast, traceable, and safe communication with the drivers that may suffer from bad network conditions and a high cognitive load. In order to understand the details of his new tasks, a driver can examine them in a multimodal dialogue including speech with the system. This is beneficial in a driving situation. By interacting with the mobile client, the system also deduces if the driver correctly understood his new instructions and can intervene if not.

Pages: 227 to 232

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2014

Publication date: August 24, 2014

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-4278

ISBN: 978-1-61208-353-7

Location: Rome, Italy

Dates: from August 24, 2014 to August 28, 2014