Human-Robot Collaboration in Manufacturing: Quantitative Evaluation of Predictable, Convergent Joint Action

Title

Human-Robot Collaboration in Manufacturing: Quantitative Evaluation of Predictable, Convergent Joint Action

Publication Type

Year of Conference
2013

Authors

Stefanos Nikolaidis
Przemyslaw A. Lasota
Gregory Rossano
Carlos Martinez
Thomas Fuhlbrigge
Julie Shah
Conference Name
International Symposium on Robotics (ISR) [Best Paper Nomination]
Date Published
10/2013
Abstract

New industrial robotic systems that operate in the same physical space as people highlight the emerging need for robots that can integrate seamlessly into human group dynamics. In this paper we build on our prior investigation, which evaluates the convergence of a robot computational teaming model and a human teammate’s mental model, by computing the entropy rate of the Markov chain. We present and analyze the six out of thirty-six human trials where the human participant switched execution strategies while working with the robot. We conduct a post-hoc analysis of this dataset and show that the entropy rate appears to be sensitive to changes in the human strategy and reflects the resulting increase in uncertainty about the human next actions. We propose that these results provide first support that entropy rate may be used as a component of dynamic risk assessment, to generate risk-aware robot motions and action selections