Collaborative Research: Learning to Control Dynamically Complex Objects

人类的感觉运动能力远远超过现代机器人的能力。先前的研究表明，人类通过利用“动态基元”的组合来实现熟练的运动，“动态基元”是简化控制的强大的协调构件。与复杂物体的相互作用--比如铺开一块桌布--需要预测，而预测又需要物体和环境的心理表征。这个项目探索了这样的心理模型在多大程度上也可以采取动态原语的形式。该项目团队将进行基础研究，探索：人类如何通过动态基元的组合来学习操作复杂的灵活对象；显性指令对心理模型获取的影响；以及将在机器人中实现的基于原语的控制结构是否可以实现对复杂对象的熟练操作和人与机器人之间的流体交互。该项目符合国家利益，因为由此产生的对人类感觉运动控制和机器人控制方法的理解可能会提高中风等神经运动损伤后机器人辅助物理康复的效率，其中与人类的安全物理合作是基本的，相互学习是至关重要的。该项目将包括一个教育部分，为研究生和本科生提供工程和研究方法培训，以及在波士顿科学博物馆向所有年龄段的个人进行STEM外联。为了吸引和留住女性进入科学和工程领域，这项研究将做出更多努力。这项研究探索了一种仿生机器人控制方法，该方法承诺在具有复杂连续动力学的柔性对象的协作操作过程中改善人与机器人的物理交互。方法包括：涉及专家和新手的人类受试者的技能获得实验，以测试心理表征是如何形成的，以及在训练期间通过明确的指导可以在多大程度上塑造它们；关于如何使用基于动态基元的心理模型与集中机械特性来促进运动学习的理论研究；以及关于人-机器人对灵活对象的协作操作的研究，其中动态基元不仅为机器人控制提供基础，而且为人类和机器人合作伙伴之间的交流和相互学习提供基础。这项研究承诺对复杂物体和工具的操纵提供新的见解，这是一个人类仍然胜过机器的领域。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Human sensorimotor capabilities vastly out-perform those of modern robots. Prior research suggests that humans achieve skillful movement by exploiting combinations of "dynamic primitives", which are robust building blocks of coordination that simplify control. Interaction with complex objects - such as spreading a tablecloth - requires prediction which, in turn, requires mental representations of the objects and environment. This project explores the extent to which such mental models may also take the form of dynamic primitives. The project team will perform fundamental research exploring: how humans learn to manipulate a complex flexible object through the composition of dynamic primitives; the impact of explicit instruction on the acquisition of the mental models; and whether a primitive-based control structure to be implemented in a robot can achieve skillful manipulation of complex objects and fluid interactions between humans and robot. This project serves the national interest because the resulting understanding of human sensorimotor control and robot control methods may result in improved efficacy of robot-assisted physical rehabilitation after neuromotor injuries such as stroke, where safe physical cooperation with humans is fundamental and mutual learning is of paramount importance. The project will involve an educational component that provides engineering and research methods training to graduate and undergraduate students, as well as STEM outreach to individuals of all ages at the Museum of Science in Boston. Additional efforts will be made to attract and retain women into careers in science and engineering.This research investigates a biomimetic approach to robot control that promise improved human-robot physical interaction during co-manipulation of flexible objects with complex continuum dynamics. Methods include skill acquisition experiments involving expert and novice human subjects to test how mental representations are formed and the extent to which they may be shaped by explicit instruction during training; a theoretical study of how motor learning may be facilitated using mental models based on dynamic primitives vs. lumped mechanical properties; and a study of human-robot co-manipulation of flexible objects wherein dynamic primitives provide the basis not only for robotic control, but also for communication and mutual learning between the human and robot partners. This research promises new insights into the manipulation of complex objects and tools, an area where humans still outperform machines.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.