Using contact-based inducement for efficient navigation in a congested environment

Abstract

As robots progressively continue to enter human lives, it becomes important for robots to navigate safely and efficiently in crowded environments. In fact, efficient navigation in crowded areas is an important prerequisite for successful coexistence between humans and robots. In this paper, we explore an unconventional idea wherein a robot tries to achieve a more efficient navigation by influencing an obstructing human to move away by means of contact. First, preliminary human reaction experiments were conducted wherein we established that we can successfully induce a human to move in a desired direction. Following this result, we have proposed a novel motion planning approach which considers inducement by contact. The system is then verified through simulation and real experiments. The results show us that the proposed method can be utilized for safer and more efficient navigation in a crowded, but relatively static environment.All authors are with the Sugano Lab,

A Preliminary Study of Interactive Navigation Framework with Situation-Adaptive Multimodal Inducement: Pass-By Scenario

“…Inducement is intended to encourage the human to sense and act for a robot to navigate comfortably, naturally, and socially by conveying its intention suitably for the situation. By referring to observations of human behaviors and conventional navigation studies [29,30], we derived six inducement methods considering typical behaviors of a mobile robot with an arm. Light and display signals [50,51] and using gaze and face expression [42,44] can be regarded as a visual inducement.…”

“…We have thus focused on robot navigation among humans as movable and/or reactive obstacles with intentions. We investigated human behavior toward robot-initiated contact by a robot's arm [29] and social acceptance of it [30]. In one study [29], we explored an unconventional idea wherein a robot tries to navigate a more efficiently by having an obstructing human move away by means of contact.…”

“…The results showed that the proposed method could be used for safer and more efficient navigation in a relatively static crowded environment. In another study [30], we investigated humans' subjective response towards robot-initiated touch during navigation. We conducted a two (warning vs. no warning) between-subject experiments with 44 people in which a mobile robot physically contacted an unaware and obstructing human to clear a way towards its goal.…”

Safety Concerns Emerging from Robots Navigating in Crowded Pedestrian Areas

“…By correlating different contact points (i.e. upper arm, lower arm, upper back and lower back), with force and human responses direction, the experimental results confirm that human reaction is quite consistent with the direction of contact force when static human subjects are touched by a robot arm [54]. In another study, intentional physical contact is used to buffer very probable contacts during navigation [55].…”

“…To physically pull something or someone along the ground Touch (of two or more things) To be so close together that there is no space between; to be in contact For example, a robot can be programmed to touch a by-stander's back with its hands, in order to induce a movement in a person and move on [54]. For instance, this hazard can be due to failure in the compliance system 11 Touch: while the robot is preparing to touch a person to induce a movement (a humanoid is raising its arm), the person suddenly turns/moves Impact injuries; the person is dragged by the robot and falls down or collides against another person or object.…”