Anticipatory robot control for efficient human-robot collaboration

Efficient collaboration requires collaborators to monitor the behaviors of their partners, make inferences about their task intent, and plan their own actions accordingly. To work seamlessly and efficiently with their human counterparts, robots must similarly rely on predictions of their users' intent in planning their actions. In this paper, we present an anticipatory control method that enables robots to proactively perform task actions based on anticipated actions of their human partners. We implemented this method into a robot system that monitored its user's gaze, predicted his or her task intent based on observed gaze patterns, and performed anticipatory task actions according to its predictions. Results from a human-robot interaction experiment showed that anticipatory control enabled the robot to respond to user requests and complete the task faster-2.5 seconds on average and up to 3.4 seconds-compared to a robot using a reactive control method that did not anticipate user intent. Our findings highlight the promise of performing anticipatory actions for achieving efficient human-robot teamwork.