Cooperative Adaptation and Shaping of Human Motor Control through Unstable Physical Human-Robot Interactions

本项目的研究目标是通过不稳定的人-机器人物理交互建立一个人类运动控制的学习、建模和调整框架(UpHRI)。骑手-自行车机器人的互动将被用作一个更高的HRI范式，以检验感官运动理论，以建模和塑造与平衡和其他功能性全身运动活动相关的人类运动控制。Bikebot是一种主动控制的自行车机器人。自行车机器人通过控制转向、速度和平衡来扰乱骑手的感知运动机制，为研究人与机器人的物理交互提供了一个新的平台。该项目将通过骑手和自行车机器人的互动为人类运动策略开发新的学习、建模和控制方案，包括：(1)开发原位传感和驱动设计，以使在UPHRI中能够扰动、提取和评估人类运动技能；(2)在降维嵌入流形上提取和表征人类运动控制策略的新型控制理论物理/统计建模框架；以及(3)在UPHRI中合作适应和调整人类运动策略的控制方法。该项目开发的新知识和工具将作为进一步加深对一般物理HRI的理解的基石，并设计新的人类启发的控制以及与其他复杂机器人系统的协调。如果成功，该项目的研究成果将产生新的知识、方法和使能工具，用于设计更广泛的人在回路控制系统。拟议研究的直接结果可能会导致开发一种新的Bikebot辅助诊断和康复工具，用于神经疾病患者。从长远来看，该项目的成果将提供潜在的方法来设计生物发现的工具。PIS将通过项目网站分发系统原理图和设计、源代码、实验数据和文档，以便其他小组可以从该项目的结果中学习。PIS还将开发一系列综合研究和教育计划，以吸引来自代表性不足群体的学生进入工程学，并让本科生参与研究。

The research objective of this project is to establish a learning, modeling and tuning framework of human motor control through unstable physical human-robot interactions (upHRI). Rider-bikebot interactions will be used as an upHRI paradigm to examine a sensorimotor theory for modeling and shaping human motor control relevant to balancing and other functional whole-body motor activities. Bikebot is an actively controlled bicycle-based robot. By perturbing rider's sensorimotor mechanism through controlled steering, velocity, and balancing, bikebot offer a new platform for studying physical human-robot interactions. This project will develop new learning, modeling and control schemes for human motor strategies through rider-bikebot interactions, including (1) the development of the in-situ sensing and actuation design to enable perturbing, extracting and evaluation of human motor skills in upHRI; (2) the novel control-theoretic physical/statistical modeling framework of extracting and characterizing human motor control strategies on reduced-dimensionality embedding manifolds; and (3) the control methodologies to cooperatively adapt and tune the human motor strategies in upHRI. The new knowledge and tools developed in this project will serve as a cornerstone to further advance understanding of general physical HRI and to design new human-inspired control and coordination with other complex robotic systems.If successful, the research outcomes of this project will generate new knowledge, methodologies and enabling tools for designing a broader class of human-in-the-loop control systems. A direct outcome of the proposed research will potentially lead to develop a new bikebot-assisted diagnosis and rehabilitation tool for neurological disorder patients. In a long term, the outcomes of this project will provide potential approaches to engineer the tools for biological discovery. The PIs will distribute systems schematics and design, source code, experimental data, and documentation via the project website so that other groups can learn from this project's outcomes. The PIs will also develop a number of integrated research and education programs to attract students from underrepresented groups into engineering and involve undergraduate students into research.