Context-aware collaborative pushing of heavy objects using skeleton-based intention prediction

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Solak, Gokhan, Lahr, Gustavo J. G., Ozdamar, Idil, Ajoudani, Arash
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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_version_ 1866918021598019584
author Solak, Gokhan
Lahr, Gustavo J. G.
Ozdamar, Idil
Ajoudani, Arash
author_facet Solak, Gokhan
Lahr, Gustavo J. G.
Ozdamar, Idil
Ajoudani, Arash
contents In physical human-robot interaction, force feedback has been the most common sensing modality to convey the human intention to the robot. It is widely used in admittance control to allow the human to direct the robot. However, it cannot be used in scenarios where direct force feedback is not available since manipulated objects are not always equipped with a force sensor. In this work, we study one such scenario: the collaborative pushing and pulling of heavy objects on frictional surfaces, a prevalent task in industrial settings. When humans do it, they communicate through verbal and non-verbal cues, where body poses, and movements often convey more than words. We propose a novel context-aware approach using Directed Graph Neural Networks to analyze spatio-temporal human posture data to predict human motion intention for non-verbal collaborative physical manipulation. Our experiments demonstrate that robot assistance significantly reduces human effort and improves task efficiency. The results indicate that incorporating posture-based context recognition, either together with or as an alternative to force sensing, enhances robot decision-making and control efficiency.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_10239
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Context-aware collaborative pushing of heavy objects using skeleton-based intention prediction
Solak, Gokhan
Lahr, Gustavo J. G.
Ozdamar, Idil
Ajoudani, Arash
Robotics
In physical human-robot interaction, force feedback has been the most common sensing modality to convey the human intention to the robot. It is widely used in admittance control to allow the human to direct the robot. However, it cannot be used in scenarios where direct force feedback is not available since manipulated objects are not always equipped with a force sensor. In this work, we study one such scenario: the collaborative pushing and pulling of heavy objects on frictional surfaces, a prevalent task in industrial settings. When humans do it, they communicate through verbal and non-verbal cues, where body poses, and movements often convey more than words. We propose a novel context-aware approach using Directed Graph Neural Networks to analyze spatio-temporal human posture data to predict human motion intention for non-verbal collaborative physical manipulation. Our experiments demonstrate that robot assistance significantly reduces human effort and improves task efficiency. The results indicate that incorporating posture-based context recognition, either together with or as an alternative to force sensing, enhances robot decision-making and control efficiency.
title Context-aware collaborative pushing of heavy objects using skeleton-based intention prediction
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.10239