ACT-R-typed human–robot collaboration mechanism for elderly and disabled assistance

摘要

SUMMARY This work aims to propose an innovative mechanism of human–robot collaboration (HRC) for mobile service robots in the application of elderly and disabled assistance. Previous studies on HRC mechanism usually focused on integrating decision-making intelligence of human beings by qualitative judgment and reasoning intelligence of robots by quantitative calculation. Instead, novelties of the proposed methodology include (1) constructing an HRC framework by taking reference from the Adaptive Control of Thought – Rational (ACT-R) human cognitive architecture; (2) establishing semantic webs of cognitive reasoning through human–robot interaction (HRI) and HRC to plan and implement complex tasks; and (3) realizing human–robot intelligence fusion by mutual encouragement, connect, and integration of modules of human, robot, perception, HRI, and HRC in the ACT-R architecture. Its technical feasibility is validated by some selected experiments within a “pouring” scenario. Further, although this study is oriented to mobile service robots, the modularized design of hardware and software makes its extensive use feasible in other types of service robots like smart rehabilitation beds, wheelchairs, and cleaning equipments.