An Intent-based Task-aware Shared Control Framework for Intuitive Hands Free Telemanipulation

TL;DR

This paper introduces an intent-based shared control framework for telemanipulation that enhances user perception of control and task success by intelligently balancing autonomous grasp planning and human input, validated through user studies.

Contribution

The proposed framework uniquely combines intent inference with adaptive arbitration to improve intuitive hands-free telemanipulation, addressing physical discrepancies between human and robot hands.

Findings

User study shows improved perceived following and control.

Adaptive arbitration balances task success and user input.

Framework enhances intuitiveness in hands-free telemanipulation.

Abstract

Shared control in teleoperation for providing robot assistance to accomplish object manipulation, called telemanipulation, is a new promising yet challenging problem. This has unique challenges--on top of teleoperation challenges in general--due to difficulties of physical discrepancy between human hands and robot hands as well as the fine motion constraints to constitute task success. We present an intuitive shared-control strategy where the focus is on generating robotic grasp poses which are better suited for human perception of successful teleoperated object manipulation and feeling of being in control of the robot, rather than developing objective stable grasp configurations for task success or following the human motion. The former is achieved by understanding human intent and autonomously taking over control on that inference. The latter is achieved by considering human inputs as hard motion constraints which the robot must abide. An arbitration of these two enables a trade-off for the subsequent robot motion to balance accomplishing the inferred task and motion constraints imposed by the operator. The arbitration framework adapts to the level of physical discrepancy between the human and different robot structures, enabling the assistance to indicate and appear to intuitively follow the user. To understand how users perceive good arbitration in object telemanipulation, we have conducted a user study with a hands-free telemanipulation setup to analyze the effect of factors including task predictability, perceived following, and user preference. The hands-free telemanipulation scene is chosen as the validation platform due to its more urgent need of intuitive robotics assistance for task success.