Experimental study on haptic communication of a human in a shared human-robot collaborative task

• Published in: 2012 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems pp. 5137 - 5144
• Main Authors: Dumora, J., Geffard, F., Bidard, C., Brouillet, T., Fraisse, P.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.10.2012
• Subjects: Current measurement; Displacement measurement; Force; Humans; Robot kinematics; Torque
• ISBN: 1467317373; 9781467317375
• ISSN: 2153-0858
• DOI: 10.1109/IROS.2012.6385721

We aim at addressing in this paper the issue of non-verbal communication involved in a human-robot interaction. We first propose a taxonomy of assistance that an operator may expect from a partner during a long object manipulation task. Then, this paper presents a method to detect which kind of robot assistance is needed, thanks to the decoding of haptic cues conveyed by the operator. An experimental study on thirty subjects moving a long object together with a robot that is providing an assistance is introduced. A statistical analysis highlights the relationships between haptic measures and intentions of motion. This analysis shows that wrench measurements constitute an incomplete information to detect the operator's intention of motion.