Sonification of Ionising Radiation Data for Robot Operators

Deploying robots in extreme environments brings many hazards which an operator must avoid during teleoperation. In a nuclear setting, intensity of ionising radiation (alpha, beta, gamma, neutron) is not only important to monitor from a safety perspective, but also to protect robot systems which are susceptible to radiation induced damage. Therefore, robot operators must avoid ionising radiation whilst managing many other threats and information streams simultaneously. This work provides a non-visual method to communicate radiation dose rate, by imitating the clicking sound of a Geiger counter for the operator, using affordable and ubiquitous hardware. The operator is then free to use visual cues to monitor other important aspects. The system accurately emulates realistic clicks due to stochastic radioactive decay rather than use a steady repetitive tempo, with average rate of audio events governed by measured radiation dose rate on a remote robot. This system readily aids an operator to identify and avoid regions of elevated radiation intensity against background, and can be adopted by any ROS compatible robot platform.