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Title: Velocity-Curvature Patterns Limit Human-Robot Physical Interaction
Physical human–robot collaboration is becoming more common, both in industrial and service robotics. Cooperative execution of a task requires intuitive and efficient interaction between both actors. For humans, this means being able to predict and adapt to robot movements. Given that natural human movement exhibits several robust features, we examined whether human–robot physical interaction is facilitated when these features are considered in robot control. The present study investigated how humans adapt to biological and nonbiological velocity patterns in robot movements. Participants held the end-effector of a robot that traced an elliptic path with either biological (twothirds power law) or nonbiological velocity profiles. Participants were instructed to minimize the force applied on the robot endeffector. Results showed that the applied force was significantly lower when the robot moved with a biological velocity pattern. With extensive practice and enhanced feedback, participants were able to decrease their force when following a nonbiological velocity pattern, but never reached forces below those obtained with the 2/3 power law profile. These results suggest that some robust features observed in natural human movements are also a strong preference in guided movements. Therefore, such features should be considered in human–robot physical collaboration.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1637854
NSF-PAR ID:
10082099
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
IEEE robotics & automation letters
Volume:
3
Issue:
1
ISSN:
2377-3766
Page Range / eLocation ID:
249-256
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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