HumanRobotics
Project: Human not monkey robotics: Neuro-inspired object manipulation with dextrous hands
Collaborating Departments: Bioengineering and Computing (Imperial); Sport and Health Science (TUM)
In collaborative tasks between humans and robots, robots provide many benefits that allow us to achieve better task performance. Through precise sensors and powerful engines, robots can move at high speeds while maintaining high accuracy or generate forces beyond human limitations. For example, collaborative robots can handle physically demanding and dangerous tasks while humans can focus on dexterous and decision-making tasks. However, such collaborations are scarcer in delicate tasks such as in the case of surgical procedures. To have robots cooperate with humans in tasks requiring fine movements or delicate object manipulation, we need transparent collaboration with a high level of mutual understanding between the two sides.
To that end, we bring together two leading research groups working from the two ends of this problem: 1. Prof David Franklin, Dr. Raz Leib, PhD candidate Yiming Liu (TUM) - Human sensorimotor control and modelling and 2. Prof Aldo Faisal, Dr. Jyotindra Narayan, PhD candidate William Dudley (Imperial) – the interface of Artificial and Human Intelligence, including neuromimetic robotics approaches derived from biological and behavioural data. The TUM team will investigate the modelling of the human during physical collaboration with another human or a robot, with a special focus on the role of haptic communication. The Imperial team will work towards enhancing the robotic control, making it adaptable and personalized for each human partner.
We investigated the role of haptic communication during physical collaborations. Our study on human-human collaboration demonstrated that when participants receive haptic feedback from their partners, they exhibited better coordination, as evidenced by increased collaborative behaviour and reduced delay. In addition to our investigation of human-human collaboration, we conducted a follow-up experiment on human-robot collaboration. Our study showed that haptic communication promotes a more balanced distribution of responsibilities between humans and robots. Notably, haptic communication only improves coordination when humans acted as followers. Additionally, we used our haptic virtual reality (VR) setup to study grasping movements and bimanual object manipulation.
Journal article:
Yiming Liu, Raz Leib, David Franklin (2023). Follow the force: Haptic communication enhances coordination in physical Human-Robot interaction when humans are followers. Submitted to: IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (under review).
Yiming Liu, Raz Leib , William Dudley , Ali Shafti , A. Aldo Faisal and David W. Franklin (2022), "The role of haptic communication in dyadic collaborative object manipulation tasks", in: arXiv:2203.01287
Conferences:
Yiming Liu, Raz Leib, William Dudley, Ali Shafti, A Aldo Faisal, David W Franklin (2022). The role of haptic communication in dyadic collaborative object manipulation tasks. arXiv preprint. DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2203.01287
- Yiming Liu, Clara Günter, Raz Leib, David W Franklin (2022) Learning of Dexterous Object Manipulation in a Virtual Reality Environment At: 2022 44th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society (EMBC), Glasgow, UK. DOI: 10.1109/EMBC48229.2022.9871093
- Yiming Liu, Clara Günter, Raz Leib, David W Franklin (2022) Bimanual Manipulation of a Complex Object with Internal Dynamics At: 2022 44th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society (EMBC), Glasgow, UK. DOI: 10.1109/EMBC48229.2022.9871098
- Clara Günter, Yiming Liu, Raz Leib, David Franklin (2022) Force Control During the Precision Grip Translates to Virtual Reality At: 2022 44th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society (EMBC), Glasgow, UK. DOI: 10.1109/EMBC48229.2022.9871970
Team
Principal Investigator (Imperial)
Dr. Etienne Burdet
Professor in Human Robotics | Imperial
Principal Investigator (TUM)
Prof. David Franklin
Chair for Neuromuscular Diagnostics
Doctoral Candidate (Imperial)
William Dudley