ACM TechNews

Robots Detect Behavioral Cues to Follow Humans

PhysOrg.com (08/21/08) Zyga, Lisa

University of California, Davis (UCD) researchers have developed a system that allows robots to use behavioral cues from human leaders and other robots to track and follow, a skill that will become increasingly important as robots continue to work alongside people in different settings. UCD's Sanjay Joshi says the goal is to make it the robot's actions more reliable and accurate. To create their following-robot system, the researchers integrated information on behavioral cues with other tracking methods, such as cameras, to improve the performance of robot followers. The system continuously predicts the position of the leader as it moves and instructs the follower robot on its next course of action. The researchers say behavioral cues that robots could use include any action or signal that a leader exhibits that suggest a future action, such a pointing or waving. Cues can also be unconscious, such as behaviors that indicate stress or sadness. Cues on movement could include walking patterns. For example, studies on human walking have shown that people unconsciously turn their head up to 25 degrees about 200 milliseconds before turning. The researchers tested how well a follower robot could follow a leader robot as it navigated a hallway. Turning was the most difficult action to follow, as the leader robot exited the follower robot's field of view. The addition of the behavioral-cue controller significantly helped the follower robot keep track of the leader. By detecting the leader's subtle behaviors, the follower could anticipate when the leader was about to turn and predict its future path, helping the follower keep pace with the leader even when it lost sight of the leader.

http://www.physorg.com/news138547570.html

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