Human Robot Workflow - Modelling and Control of Collaborative Tasks

本研究从实验、建模和分析的角度研究了人-机器人协作面临的挑战，并提出了安全、有效、高效的人-机器人交互设计方法。我的研究为基于生理、触觉和手势的提示应用于积木场景：轮换、对象传递、资源共享、命令发布提供了新的方法和闭环人-机器人交互的演示。这些人在回路中的通信和控制方法支持远程操作、产品装配和协作搬运中人-机器人交互应用的创建和实验评估。*为了推进这一领域的研究，并为市场上推出的众多机器人助手平台创建新的应用程序，需要一个强大的知识、方法和设计原则框架，用于复杂的交互；一个允许交互在不同协作模式之间平稳安全切换的框架。我的团队将通过对两个轨道上的交互进行研究来开发这个框架：i)时间交互，即人-机器人协作工作的流畅性和节奏；以及ii)空间交互，即人-机器人代理。这两个轨迹直接映射到共享任务中的交互范围：从远端的、低频率的支持性交互到近距离的、高频的合作活动。通过假设生成、原型制作、实验工作和分析的过程，我们将探索这些轨迹中的每一个，并开发支持人与机器人在各种工作共享模式中协作的交互方法。*将这两个跟踪整合在一起，我的团队将开发在线工具，用于在整体物理系统状态(人、机器人/设备和任务)、用户意图和机器人控制器操作之间进行评估、通信和调解。此外，我们将继续研究和改进建模和测试人-机器人交互的方法和协议，以便更好地了解人和机器人是如何合作的。*研究跨工作共享模式的人-机器人交互，并开发用于建模和设计人-机器人团队工作的高级工具，为工程师、系统设计师和集成商提供在广泛的新兴制造和消费产品场景中有效设计和实施机器人设备的能力。对该领域研究生的培训将推动该领域的发展，并提供在协作机器人领域创造新市场机会所需的人才和技术。对于工业来说，有效的人-机器人协作，利用新的机器人系统，将提高生产率和质量，同时使公司在竞争激烈的全球市场中获得优势。

This research addresses the challenges of Human-Robot collaboration from experimental, modeling and analytical perspectives; and advances methods for safe, effective and efficient human-robot interaction design. My research has provided novel methods for, and demonstrations of, closed-loop human-robot interaction based on physiologic, haptic and gesture based cues applied to building block' scenarios: turn-taking, object passing, resource sharing, command issuance. These human-in-the-loop communication and control methods support the creation and experimental evaluation of human-robot interactions applications in teleoperation, product assembly and collaborative carrying. ***To advance this area of research and create new applications for the numerous robot assistant platforms coming out in the market, a robust framework of knowledge, methods, and design principles for complex interactions is required; one that allows interactions to shift smoothly and safely between different modes of collaboration. My team will develop this framework through investigations of interactions along two tracks: i) temporal interactions, that is, the fluency and rhythm of collaborative human-robot work; and ii) spatial interactions, that is human-robot proxemics. These two tracks directly map onto the range of interactions in shared tasks: from distal, low frequency, supportive interactions to close proximity, high frequency cooperative activity. Through a process of hypothesis generation, prototyping, experimental work, and analysis we will explore each of these tracks, and develop interactions methods that support human-robot collaboration over the full range of work sharing modalities. ***Integrating these two tracks, my team will develop online tools for assessing, communicating, and mediating between the overall physical system state (human, robot/devices, and task), the user's intentions, and the robot controller actions. Further, we will continue to investigate and improve methods and protocols for modelling and testing human-robot interactions so that we can better understand how people and robots work together. ***The study of human-robot interactions across modes of work-sharing, and the development of advanced tools for modelling and design of human-robot teamwork, provides engineers, system designers, integrators the ability to effectively design and implement robotic devices in a wide range of emerging manufacturing and consumer product scenarios. Training of graduate students in this area will advance the field and provide the talent and technology needed to create new market opportunities in the collaborative robotics space. For industry, effective human-robot collaboration, utilizing new robotic systems, will increase productivity and quality while giving companies an edge in competitive global markets.