Human-in-the-Loop Pareto Optimization: Trade-off Characterization for Assist-as-Needed Training and Performance Evaluation

Fuente: arXiv
Enregistré dans:
Détails bibliographiques
Auteurs principaux: Tolasa, Harun, Patoglu, Volkan
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
Sujets:
Accès en ligne:
Tags: Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
_version_ 1866918499284156416
author Tolasa, Harun
Patoglu, Volkan
author_facet Tolasa, Harun
Patoglu, Volkan
contents During human motor skill training and physical rehabilitation, there is an inherent trade-off between task difficulty and user performance. Characterizing this trade-off is crucial for evaluating user performance, designing assist-as-needed (AAN) protocols, and assessing the efficacy of training protocols. In this study, we propose a novel human-in-the-loop (HiL) Pareto optimization approach to characterize the trade-off between task performance and the perceived challenge level of motor learning or rehabilitation tasks. We adapt Bayesian multi-criteria optimization to systematically and efficiently perform HiL Pareto characterizations. Our HiL optimization employs a hybrid model that measures performance with a quantitative metric, while the perceived challenge level is captured with a qualitative metric. We demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed HiL Pareto characterization through a user study. Furthermore, we present the utility of the framework through three use cases in the context of a manual skill training task with haptic feedback. First, we demonstrate how the characterized trade-off can be used to design a sample AAN training protocol for a motor learning task and to evaluate the group-level efficacy of the proposed AAN protocol relative to a baseline adaptive assistance protocol. Second, we demonstrate that individual-level comparisons of the trade-offs characterized before and after the training session enable fair evaluation of training progress under different assistance levels. This evaluation method is more general than standard performance evaluations, as it can provide insights even when users cannot perform the task without assistance. Third, we show that the characterized trade-offs also enable fair performance comparisons among different users, as they capture the best possible performance of each user under all feasible assistance levels.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_23777
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Human-in-the-Loop Pareto Optimization: Trade-off Characterization for Assist-as-Needed Training and Performance Evaluation
Tolasa, Harun
Patoglu, Volkan
Robotics
Artificial Intelligence
Systems and Control
During human motor skill training and physical rehabilitation, there is an inherent trade-off between task difficulty and user performance. Characterizing this trade-off is crucial for evaluating user performance, designing assist-as-needed (AAN) protocols, and assessing the efficacy of training protocols. In this study, we propose a novel human-in-the-loop (HiL) Pareto optimization approach to characterize the trade-off between task performance and the perceived challenge level of motor learning or rehabilitation tasks. We adapt Bayesian multi-criteria optimization to systematically and efficiently perform HiL Pareto characterizations. Our HiL optimization employs a hybrid model that measures performance with a quantitative metric, while the perceived challenge level is captured with a qualitative metric. We demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed HiL Pareto characterization through a user study. Furthermore, we present the utility of the framework through three use cases in the context of a manual skill training task with haptic feedback. First, we demonstrate how the characterized trade-off can be used to design a sample AAN training protocol for a motor learning task and to evaluate the group-level efficacy of the proposed AAN protocol relative to a baseline adaptive assistance protocol. Second, we demonstrate that individual-level comparisons of the trade-offs characterized before and after the training session enable fair evaluation of training progress under different assistance levels. This evaluation method is more general than standard performance evaluations, as it can provide insights even when users cannot perform the task without assistance. Third, we show that the characterized trade-offs also enable fair performance comparisons among different users, as they capture the best possible performance of each user under all feasible assistance levels.
title Human-in-the-Loop Pareto Optimization: Trade-off Characterization for Assist-as-Needed Training and Performance Evaluation
topic Robotics
Artificial Intelligence
Systems and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.23777