Investigation of impressions for approach motion of a mobile robot based on psychophysiological analysis

This paper investigates impressions of approach motions of a mobile robot based on psychophysiological analysis. In one of our previous studies, we suggested that actuation noise caused by the robots tended to raise the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) response of heart rate variability. In another experiment it was observed that blocking out either the sound or the sight of the robot motion attenuated the electrodermal activity (EDA), which reflects the SNS. From these investigations, one candidate for motion rules for human-friendly robots was deduced such that robots must reduce their motion speed in the immediate vicinity of human. To confirm validity of the motion rule, we constructed an experimental setup with a mobile robot approaching humans at several speeds, and investigated the human impressions by means of psychophysiological methods. The experimental results showed that robot motion adjacent to humans tended to increase EDA responses. We found especially that the approach motion tented to give stronger stimuli to humans than motions at a distance. The faster approach motion tended to increase EDA responses, but there was no significant statistical difference from the response to slower approach motion. From factor analysis of the subjective ratings two factors were extracted, which were interpreted as "relief of mind" and "observation on motion

Adaptive Human-Aware Robot Navigation in Close Proximity to Humans

For robots to be able coexist with people in future everyday human environments, they must be able to act in a safe, natural and comfortable way. This work addresses the motion of a mobile robot in an environment, where humans potentially want to interact with it. The designed system consists of three main components: a Kalman filter-based algorithm that derives a person's state information (position, velocity and orientation) relative to the robot; another algorithm that uses a Case-Based Reasoning approach to estimate if a person wants to interact with the robot; and, finally, a navigation system that uses a potential field to derive motion that respects the person's social zones and perceived interest in interaction. The operation of the system is evaluated in a controlled scenario in an open hall environment. It is demonstrated that the robot is able to learn to estimate if a person wishes to interact, and that the system is capable of adapting to changing behaviours of the humans in the environment

Investigation of impressions for approach motion of a mobile robot based on psychophysiological analysis

application/pdfThis paper investigates impressions of approach motions of a mobile robot based on psychophysiological analysis. In one of our previous studies, we suggested that actuation noise caused by the robots tended to raise the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) response of heart rate variability. In another experiment it was observed that blocking out either the sound or the sight of the robot motion attenuated the electrodermal activity (EDA), which reflects the SNS. From these investigations, one candidate for motion rules for human-friendly robots was deduced such that robots must reduce their motion speed in the immediate vicinity of human. To confirm validity of the motion rule, we constructed an experimental setup with a mobile robot approaching humans at several speeds, and investigated the human impressions by means of psychophysiological methods. The experimental results showed that robot motion adjacent to humans tended to increase EDA responses. We found especially that the approach motion tented to give stronger stimuli to humans than motions at a distance. The faster approach motion tended to increase EDA responses, but there was no significant statistical difference from the response to slower approach motion. From factor analysis of the subjective ratings two factors were extracted, which were interpreted as "relief of mind" and "observation on motion

Advances in Robot Navigation

Robot navigation includes different interrelated activities such as perception - obtaining and interpreting sensory information; exploration - the strategy that guides the robot to select the next direction to go; mapping - the construction of a spatial representation by using the sensory information perceived; localization - the strategy to estimate the robot position within the spatial map; path planning - the strategy to find a path towards a goal location being optimal or not; and path execution, where motor actions are determined and adapted to environmental changes. This book integrates results from the research work of authors all over the world, addressing the abovementioned activities and analyzing the critical implications of dealing with dynamic environments. Different solutions providing adaptive navigation are taken from nature inspiration, and diverse applications are described in the context of an important field of study: social robotics