Joint Prediction of Human Motions and Actions in Human-Robot Collaboration

TL;DR

This paper introduces MA-HERP, a hierarchical probabilistic framework that jointly estimates and predicts human movements and actions for improved human-robot collaboration.

Contribution

It presents a novel recursive probabilistic model that combines continuous and discrete human behavior modeling in a unified framework.

Findings

Accurate motion prediction demonstrated in simulations.

Robust action inference under noisy conditions.

Computational performance suitable for real-time collaboration.

Abstract

Fluent human--robot collaboration requires robots to continuously estimate human behaviour and anticipate future intentions. This entails reasoning jointly about \emph{continuous movements} and \emph{discrete actions}, which are still largely modelled in isolation. In this paper, we introduce \textsf{MA-HERP}, a hierarchical and recursive probabilistic framework for the \emph{joint estimation and prediction} of human movements and actions. The model combines: (i) a hierarchical representation in which movements compose into actions through admissible Allen interval relations, (ii) a unified probabilistic factorisation coupling continuous dynamics, discrete labels, and durations, and (iii) a recursive inference scheme inspired by Bayesian filtering, alternating top-down action prediction with bottom-up sensory evidence. We present a preliminary experimental evaluation based on neural models trained on musculoskeletal simulations of reaching movements, showing accurate motion prediction, robust action inference under noise, and computational performance compatible with on-line human--robot collaboration.