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In this paper, an adjustable autonomy framework is proposed for Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) in which a robot uses a reinforcement learning mechanism guided by a human operator's rewards in an initially unknown workspace. Within the proposed framework, the robot can adjust its autonomy level in an HRC setting that is represented by a Markov Decision Process. A novel Q-learning mechanism with an integrated greedy approach is implemented for robot learning to capture the correct actions and the robot's mistakes for adjusting its autonomy level. The proposed HRC framework can adapt to changes in the workspace, and can adjust the autonomy level, provided consistent human operator's reward. The developed algorithm is applied to a realistic HRC setting, involving a Baxter humanoid robot. The experimental results confirm the capability of the developed framework to successfully adjust the robot's autonomy level in response to changes in the human operator's commands or the workspace. 

Abstract Connected autonomous vehicles (CAVs) have the potential to deal with the steady increase in road traffic while solving transportation related issues such as traffic congestion, pollution, and road safety. Therefore, CAVs are becoming increasingly popular and viewed as the next generation transportation solution. Although modular advancements have been achieved in the development of CAVs, these efforts are not fully integrated to operationalize CAVs in realistic driving scenarios. This paper surveys a wide range of efforts reported in the literature about the CAV developments, summarizes the CAV impacts from a statistical perspective, explores current state of practice in the field of CAVs in terms of autonomy technologies, communication backbone, and computation needs. Furthermore, this paper provides general guidance on how transportation infrastructures need to be prepared in order to effectively operationalize CAVs. The paper also identifies challenges that need to be addressed in near future for effective and reliable adoption of CAVs.