A software tool for human-robot shared-workspace collaboration with task precedence constraints

A key challenge in human-robot shared workspace is defining the decision criterion to select the next task for a fluent, efficient and safe collaboration. While working with robots in an industrial environment, tasks may comply with precedence constraints to be executed. A typical example of precedence constraint in industry occurs at an assembly station when the human cannot perform a task before the robot ends on its own. This paper presents a methodology based on the Maximum Entropy Inverse Optimal Control for the identification of a probability distribution over the human goals, packed into a software tool for human-robot shared-workspace collaboration. The software analyzes the human goal and the goal precedence constraints, and it is able to identify the best robot goal along with the relative motion plan. The approach used is, an algorithm for the management of goal precedence constraints and the Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP) for the selection of the next robot action. A comparison study with 15 participants was carried out in a real world assembly station. The experiment focused on evaluating the task fluency, the task efficiency and the human satisfaction. The presented model displayed reduction in robot idle time and increased human satisfaction.