# Mixed-Initiative variable autonomy for remotely operated mobile robots

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1911.04848 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.04848/

## Key facts

- Cited by 7 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 12 Nov 2019.

## Built on by (most cited first, 7 of 7)

- [Robot Vitals and Robot Health: Towards Systematically Quantifying Runtime Performance Degradation in Robots Under Adverse Conditions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.01684/) (2022)
- [A Hierarchical Variable Autonomy Mixed-Initiative Framework for Human-Robot Teaming in Mobile Robotics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.14095/) (2022)
- [Mixed-Initiative Human-Robot Teaming under Suboptimality with Online Bayesian Adaptation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.16178/) (2024)
- [Human operator cognitive availability aware Mixed-Initiative control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.11885/) (2021)
- [Understanding Role Switching in Human-AI Collaboration through Multimodal Behavioral Signals](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.20666/) (2025)
- [Intent-Driven LLM Ensemble Planning for Flexible Multi-Robot Disassembly: Demonstration on EV Batteries](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.17576/) (2025)
- [Interpretable Multimodal Gesture Recognition for Drone and Mobile Robot Teleoperation via Log-Likelihood Ratio Fusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.23694/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

This paper presents an Expert-guided Mixed-Initiative Control Switcher (EMICS) for remotely operated mobile robots. The EMICS enables switching between different levels of autonomy during task execution initiated by either the human operator and/or the EMICS. The EMICS is evaluated in two disaster response inspired experiments, one with a simulated robot and test arena, and one with a real robot in a realistic environment. Analyses from the two experiments provide evidence that: a) Human-Initiative (HI) systems outperform systems with single modes of operation, such as pure teleoperation, in navigation tasks; b) in the context of the simulated robot experiment, Mixed-Initiative (MI) systems provide improved performance in navigation tasks, improved operator performance in cognitive demanding secondary tasks, and improved operator workload compared to HI. Results also reinforce previous human-robot interaction evidence regarding the importance of the operator's personality traits and their trust in the autonomous system. Lastly, our experiment on a physical robot provides empirical evidence that identify two major challenges for MI control: a) the design of context-aware MI control systems; and b) the conflict for control between the robot's MI control system and the operator. Insights regarding these challenges are discussed and ways to tackle them are proposed.