An EEG investigation on planning human-robot handover tasks
- Sara Cooper ,
- Stuart Gow ,
- Samuel F.P.Fensome ,
- Mauro Dragone ,
- Dimitrios Kourtis
Abstract
Human-robot joint action is a key requirement in many advanced robotic
applications where robots are not only
expected to work alongside humans but also collaborate with them in the
performance of physical tasks. Robots are already programmed to model
and predict human actions in order to ensure smooth collaboration and
overall task efficiency. However, little is known on how humans
represent and account for robot's actions as part of their own plans.
This paper presents a first joint psychological and HRI user study
designed to answer this question in the context of human-robot handover
scenarios.
Our analysis showed that the participants had a positive userexperience
of the interaction and adopted gaze patterns similar to a large extent
to the ones in human-to-human handover tasks.
The EEG analysis suggests that, compared to solo action, the human
participants were at a state of higher motor readiness when they
prepared to hand over the object to the robot either because they
represented the robot's action in advance or alternatively that they
anticipated that passing the object to the robot would be a more
effortful action, thus highlighting the increased demands in planning a
human-to-robot interaction.
Our findings highlight the value of gaze as a positive method of
non-verbal communication in HRI and provides new insights in the neural
mechanisms that allows a person to plan an effective interaction with a
robot.