Legibot: Enhancing Robot Legibility through Cost-Based Local Motion Planning

Centrala begrepp

A novel approach to incorporate legibility into local motion planning for mobile robots, enabling them to generate legible motions in real-time and dynamic environments.

Sammanfattning

The paper introduces a legibility-aware local motion planning algorithm for service robots. The key contributions are:

A novel approach to computing legible motion in cost-based local planners. The algorithm predicts the observer's expectations about the robot's motion, and then generates a final motion plan that maximizes similarity with the predicted motion for the actual goal, and minimizes similarity with the predicted motions for unintended goals.

A robotic stack for deploying legibility-aware motion planning in real-world scenarios, designed using ROS concepts.

Evaluation of the approach in a simulated restaurant scenario, and an offline user study to assess the legibility of the robot's motions from the perspective of human observers.

The paper highlights the importance of legibility in robot navigation, where the robot's movements should clearly convey its intentions and goals to nearby individuals. The proposed legibility-aware planner aims to address this challenge by generating motion plans that are easily interpretable by human observers.

Statistik

The robot is tasked with delivering an item to a target person G*.
There are other people {G2} present in the scene as potential unintended goals.
A standard (non-legible) local planner would generate the light-green path ˜ξG* to minimize the planning cost.
The proposed legibility-aware planner generates the dark green path ξG* that decreases the confusion for the observer and improves the legibility of the robot's motion.

Citat

"Legibility, as outlined in [7], is a dimension with significant potential for development within the realm of robotics. Legibility in robot navigation is the capacity of a robot to convey its intentions and goals to people in its vicinity through its movement patterns clearly and promptly."
"Central to the concept of legibility is the observer, typically a human, with whom the robot aims to communicate its intentions [11], [12]."

Viktiga insikter från

Legibot

by Javad Amiria... på arxiv.org 04-09-2024

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2404.05100.pdf

Djupare frågor

How can the proposed legibility-aware planner be extended to handle more complex, dynamic environments with multiple moving obstacles and observers?

The proposed legibility-aware planner can be extended to handle more complex and dynamic environments by incorporating advanced algorithms for obstacle avoidance and path planning. One approach could be to integrate machine learning techniques to predict the movements of multiple moving obstacles and observers in the environment. By training the system on a diverse set of scenarios, the planner can learn to anticipate the behavior of dynamic elements and adjust the robot's path accordingly to ensure legibility. Additionally, the planner can utilize real-time sensor data fusion from various sources, such as cameras, LIDAR sensors, and depth sensors, to continuously update the environment map and make informed decisions about navigation paths. By enhancing the planner's ability to adapt to changing environments and dynamic obstacles, the robot can navigate more effectively while maintaining legibility in its motions.

What are the potential trade-offs between task efficiency and legibility, and how can they be balanced in the motion planning optimization?

The potential trade-offs between task efficiency and legibility in motion planning optimization lie in the complexity of the environment and the level of predictability required in the robot's movements. Task efficiency often prioritizes the shortest or fastest path to reach a goal, which may result in less legible motions that are harder for observers to interpret. On the other hand, legibility focuses on making the robot's intentions clear and predictable to human observers, which may involve taking slightly longer or less direct paths to ensure smooth communication through motion.
To balance task efficiency and legibility in motion planning optimization, the planner can assign different weights to the cost functions related to task completion and legibility. By adjusting these weights based on the specific requirements of the environment and the task at hand, the planner can find a compromise that optimizes both task efficiency and legibility. Additionally, incorporating dynamic re-planning mechanisms that can adapt to real-time changes in the environment while considering legibility constraints can help strike a balance between efficiency and legibility in motion planning.

Could the legibility-aware planning approach be combined with other non-verbal communication modalities, such as gestures or signaling lights, to further enhance the robot's ability to convey its intentions?

Yes, the legibility-aware planning approach can be combined with other non-verbal communication modalities, such as gestures or signaling lights, to enhance the robot's ability to convey its intentions effectively. By integrating gestures into the robot's motion planning, the robot can use specific movements to signal its intentions to human observers, making its actions more understandable and predictable. For example, the robot could use a waving motion to indicate that it is yielding the right of way to a person or use a pointing gesture to show the direction it intends to move.
Similarly, signaling lights can be incorporated into the robot's design to provide additional visual cues to observers about its intentions. For instance, the robot could use different colored lights to indicate different modes of operation or flash a light in the direction it plans to turn. By combining these non-verbal communication modalities with the legibility-aware planning approach, the robot can enhance its ability to communicate effectively with humans in various environments, improving overall user experience and acceptance.