Semantically-Driven Disambiguation for Efficient Object Retrieval in Human-Robot Interaction

Khái niệm cốt lõi

Leveraging object semantics, the robot can generate informative clarifying questions to handle ambiguities in user instructions and iteratively predict the object's room and location.

Tóm tắt

This paper presents a novel approach to enable robots to efficiently fulfill complex, ambiguous commands by eliciting missing information from the user through a series of semantically-driven queries. The key insights are:

1. A pre-study found that 44% of object retrieval instructions given by users to a robot contained ambiguities or missing information about the object's location, motivating the need for a disambiguation approach.

2. The method first learns different semantic knowledge embeddings to model the relationships between object features and their room/location properties.

3. When the robot detects ambiguities in the user's initial query, it generates informative follow-up clarifying questions using the learned embeddings to gather additional object properties.

4. The robot then iteratively predicts the object's room and location based on the accumulated semantic information.

5. Extensive evaluations show that this approach is model-agnostic, as informative clarifications improve performance regardless of the underlying semantic embedding used.

6. Ablation studies further demonstrate the significance of the informative clarifications and iterative prediction process in enhancing the system's accuracy.

Overall, this work presents an effective solution for robots to handle ambiguous user instructions by leveraging object semantics and interactive clarifications, enabling more robust and efficient object retrieval in human-robot interaction.

Thống kê

The pre-study found that in 44% of object retrieval instructions, users did not explicitly state the location of the desired object.
The user experiment results show that follow-up clarifications and iterative processes improve the room prediction accuracy from 0.22 to 0.72 and the location prediction accuracy from 0.21 to 0.61 using the Transformers semantic embedding.

Trích dẫn

"Ambiguous instructions are a challenging yet fundamental part of human-robot interaction."
"Knowing that a cup is full of coffee would allow the robot to infer that the cup is unlikely to be inside a cabinet, so semantic reasoning can be helpful in these situations."

Thông tin chi tiết chính được chắt lọc từ

Semantically-Driven Disambiguation for Human-Robot Interaction

by Fethiye Irma... lúc arxiv.org 09-26-2024

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2409.17004.pdf

Yêu cầu sâu hơn

How could this approach be extended to handle cases where there are multiple similar objects in the same location?

To extend the proposed semantically-driven disambiguation approach for scenarios involving multiple similar objects in the same location, the system could incorporate visual recognition capabilities alongside the existing semantic knowledge embeddings. By integrating a visual perception module, the robot could analyze the scene and identify the presence of similar objects, such as multiple cups or bowls, within the same vicinity.
The approach could involve the following steps:

Visual Scene Analysis: Utilize computer vision techniques to detect and classify objects in the robot's field of view. This could include object detection algorithms that identify and label similar objects based on their visual features.
Contextual Information Gathering: Once similar objects are detected, the robot could leverage contextual information, such as spatial relationships (e.g., "the cup next to the plate") and object attributes (e.g., color, size, or material), to narrow down the search.
Enhanced Clarification Questions: The robot could generate more specific follow-up questions based on the visual input, such as "Is the cup on the left or right?" or "Is it the red cup or the blue cup?" This would help in disambiguating between similar objects by directly referencing their visual characteristics.
Iterative Feedback Loop: The system could implement an iterative feedback loop where the robot continuously refines its understanding of the environment based on user responses and visual data, allowing for dynamic adjustments to its search strategy.

By combining semantic reasoning with visual perception, the robot would be better equipped to handle complex scenarios involving multiple similar objects, ultimately improving its object localization and retrieval capabilities.

What other types of semantic information, beyond the ones considered in this work, could be leveraged to further improve the disambiguation and object localization capabilities?

To enhance the disambiguation and object localization capabilities of the proposed system, several additional types of semantic information could be integrated:

Temporal Context: Incorporating temporal information about when objects are typically used or moved could provide valuable context. For example, knowing that a "coffee mug" is often found in the kitchen during morning hours could help the robot prioritize its search in that location at specific times of the day.

User Preferences and History: Personalization through user preferences could significantly improve the system's accuracy. By learning from past interactions, the robot could prioritize certain objects or locations based on the user's habits, such as frequently used items or preferred storage places.

Functional Attributes: Understanding the functional attributes of objects (e.g., "a bowl is used for serving food") could help the robot infer likely locations based on the context of the request. For instance, if a user asks for a "serving bowl," the robot could deduce that it is more likely to be in the dining room rather than the kitchen cabinet.

Social and Cultural Context: Integrating social and cultural knowledge could also enhance the robot's understanding. For example, knowing that certain objects are culturally significant or commonly used in specific ways could guide the robot's search strategy.

Environmental Context: Information about the environment, such as the layout of the space, common pathways, and areas of high activity, could help the robot navigate more effectively. This could include mapping out frequently accessed areas or understanding the typical arrangement of objects in a room.

By leveraging these additional types of semantic information, the robot could achieve a more nuanced understanding of its environment, leading to improved disambiguation and localization capabilities.

How could this system be integrated with a robot's visual perception to enable more comprehensive and dynamic understanding of the environment during the interaction?

Integrating the proposed semantically-driven disambiguation system with a robot's visual perception can create a more comprehensive and dynamic understanding of the environment. This integration could be achieved through the following strategies:

Multi-Modal Data Fusion: The system could combine data from both semantic embeddings and visual perception. By fusing information from natural language queries with visual data, the robot can create a richer representation of the environment. For instance, when a user requests an object, the robot can simultaneously analyze the visual scene and reference its semantic knowledge to identify potential matches.

Real-Time Object Recognition: Implementing real-time object recognition algorithms would allow the robot to identify and classify objects as it navigates through the environment. This capability would enable the robot to dynamically update its understanding of the scene, adjusting its search strategy based on what it visually perceives.

Contextual Awareness: The robot could utilize visual cues to enhance its contextual awareness. For example, if the robot sees a cluttered table, it could infer that objects are likely to be nearby and adjust its search accordingly. This contextual awareness could also inform the robot's follow-up questions, making them more relevant to the current visual context.

Interactive Visual Feedback: The robot could provide visual feedback to users during interactions. For example, if the robot is unsure about which object to retrieve, it could display images of similar objects it has detected and ask the user to confirm which one they meant. This interactive approach would enhance user engagement and improve the accuracy of the robot's actions.

Dynamic Semantic Mapping: By continuously updating a semantic map of the environment based on visual input, the robot could maintain an accurate representation of object locations and their relationships. This dynamic mapping would allow the robot to adapt to changes in the environment, such as when objects are moved or new items are introduced.

By integrating visual perception with the semantic disambiguation system, the robot would be better equipped to understand and interact with its environment, leading to more effective and efficient human-robot interactions.