Using human approach paths to improve social navigation

Abstract

Here we have presented a small study collecting human social navigation data, and a method for adding an approximation of human social rules for approaching others to a robot's autonomous navigation by using a model of those data. For a robot to adhere to those social rules when it moves through human environments would make its navigation more predictable and familiar to humans, who have years of experience with other human agents following those rules, thus potentially improving their acceptance of the robot's presence.