Vision-based Contingency Detection

© ACM, 2011. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of ACM for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive version will be published in Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), 2011. http://doi.acm.orgWe present a novel method for the visual detection of a contingent response by a human to the stimulus of a robot action. Contingency is de ned as a change in an agent's be- havior within a speci c time window in direct response to a signal from another agent; detection of such responses is essential to assess the willingness and interest of a human in interacting with the robot. Using motion-based features to describe the possible contingent action, our approach as- sesses the visual self-similarity of video subsequences cap- tured before the robot exhibits its signaling behavior and statistically models the typical graph-partitioning cost of separating an arbitrary subsequence of frames from the oth- ers. After the behavioral signal, the video is similarly ana- lyzed and the cost of separating the after-signal frames from the before-signal sequences is computed; a lower than typ- ical cost indicates likely contingent reaction. We present a preliminary study in which data were captured and analyzed for algorithmic performance

Addressing joint action challenges in HRI: Insights from psychology and philosophy

The vast expansion of research in human-robot interactions (HRI) these last decades has been accompanied by the design of increasingly skilled robots for engaging in joint actions with humans. However, these advances have encountered significant challenges to ensure fluent interactions and sustain human motivation through the different steps of joint action. After exploring current literature on joint action in HRI, leading to a more precise definition of these challenges, the present article proposes some perspectives borrowed from psychology and philosophy showing the key role of communication in human interactions. From mutual recognition between individuals to the expression of commitment and social expectations, we argue that communicative cues can facilitate coordination, prediction, and motivation in the context of joint action. The description of several notions thus suggests that some communicative capacities can be implemented in the context of joint action for HRI, leading to an integrated perspective of robotic communication.French National Research Agency (ANR) ANR-16-CE33-0017 ANR-17-EURE-0017 FrontCog ANR-10-IDEX-0001-02 PSLJuan de la Cierva-Incorporacion grant IJC2019-040199-ISpanish Government PID2019-108870GB-I00 PID2019-109764RB-I0