Bidirectional Human-Robot Communication for Physical Human-Robot Interaction

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Wang, Junxiang, Wang, Cindy, Zarrin, Rana Soltani, Erickson, Zackory
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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author Wang, Junxiang
Wang, Cindy
Zarrin, Rana Soltani
Erickson, Zackory
author_facet Wang, Junxiang
Wang, Cindy
Zarrin, Rana Soltani
Erickson, Zackory
contents Effective physical human-robot interaction requires systems that are not only adaptable to user preferences but also transparent about their actions. This paper introduces BRIDGE, a system for bidirectional human-robot communication in physical assistance. Our method allows users to modify a robot's planned trajectory -- position, velocity, and force -- in real time using natural language. We utilize a large language model (LLM) to interpret any trajectory modifications implied by user commands in the context of the planned motion and conversation history. Importantly, our system provides verbal feedback in response to the user, either assuring any resulting changes or posing a clarifying question. We evaluated our method in a user study with 18 older adults across three assistive tasks, comparing BRIDGE to an ablation without verbal feedback and a baseline. Results show that participants successfully used the system to modify trajectories in real time. Moreover, the bidirectional feedback led to significantly higher ratings of interactivity and transparency, demonstrating that the robot's verbal response is critical for a more intuitive user experience. Videos and code can be found on our project website: https://bidir-comm.github.io/
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_10796
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Bidirectional Human-Robot Communication for Physical Human-Robot Interaction
Wang, Junxiang
Wang, Cindy
Zarrin, Rana Soltani
Erickson, Zackory
Robotics
Effective physical human-robot interaction requires systems that are not only adaptable to user preferences but also transparent about their actions. This paper introduces BRIDGE, a system for bidirectional human-robot communication in physical assistance. Our method allows users to modify a robot's planned trajectory -- position, velocity, and force -- in real time using natural language. We utilize a large language model (LLM) to interpret any trajectory modifications implied by user commands in the context of the planned motion and conversation history. Importantly, our system provides verbal feedback in response to the user, either assuring any resulting changes or posing a clarifying question. We evaluated our method in a user study with 18 older adults across three assistive tasks, comparing BRIDGE to an ablation without verbal feedback and a baseline. Results show that participants successfully used the system to modify trajectories in real time. Moreover, the bidirectional feedback led to significantly higher ratings of interactivity and transparency, demonstrating that the robot's verbal response is critical for a more intuitive user experience. Videos and code can be found on our project website: https://bidir-comm.github.io/
title Bidirectional Human-Robot Communication for Physical Human-Robot Interaction
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.10796