The development of robot human-like behaviour for an efficient human-machine co-operation

 

Y. Rybarczyk1,2, S. Galerne1, P. Hoppenot1, E. Colle1, D. Mestre2

  1. CEMIF – Complex System Group – University of Evry, 40, rue du Pelvoux, 91020 Evry Cedex, France
    Cognitive Neuroscience Center, CNRS UPR 9012, 31 Chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402 Marseille Cedex 20

e-mail : yrybarc | galerne | hoppenot | ecolle @cemif.univ-evry.fr | mestre@lnf.cnrs-mrs.fr

Abstract : Robotics can provide technological solutions for improving the quality of life of disabled or elderly people. The main objective of this project is to give these people some independence. The use of a mobile base mounted arm allows for the restoration of some of the manipulatory functions lost by the person. Due to the cost of the final product, the robot is semiautonomous; that is to say, has some limitations in its environmental perception and decision-making capabilities. This lack of autonomy must be compensated for by human machine co-operation. One way to facilitate co-operation is to give the robot human-like behaviours when it executes automatic operations. This principle has been applied to the main functions needed for robot displacement, planning and navigation. This paper describes the approach we applied to develop a particular control method for the robot using a pan tilt camera. The method is composed of four steps : study of the human behaviour of interest, extraction of the pertinent features of the behaviour, implementation of the behaviour in automatic robot operation, and experimental evaluation.

Key-words : mobile robot-mounted arm, man-machine co-operation, human like behaviour.