We present a novel approach to shared control of human-machine systems. Our method assumes no a priori knowledge of the system dynamics. Instead, we learn both the dynamics and information about the user's interaction from observation through the use of the Koopman operator. Using the learned model, we define an optimization problem to compute the optimal policy for a given task, and compare the user input to the optimal input. We demonstrate the efficacy of our approach with a user study. We also analyze the individual nature of the learned models by comparing the effectiveness of our approach when the demonstration data comes from a user's own interactions, from the interactions of a group of users and from a domain expert. Positive results include statistically significant improvements on task metrics when comparing a user-only control paradigm with our shared control paradigm. Surprising results include findings that suggest that individualizing the model based on a user's own data does not effect the ability to learn a useful dynamic system. We explore this tension as it relates to developing human-in-the-loop systems further in the discussion.
Mirroring our own experience with teams comprised of human partners, researchers have also explored the use of as a metric for improving shared control in human-robot teams @cite_9 . For example, researchers have developed systems that estimate the degree to which the human and robot are consistent in their actions and then updates the behavior of the robot to better align with the human @cite_16 . Other's have described a bi-direction metric based on task performance @cite_2 and even developed a task-agnostic notion of that is instead based on the user's understanding of the dynamic system @cite_4 .
@cite_9 @cite_16 @cite_4 @cite_2
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Throughout the history of automation, there have been numerous accidents attributed to the inappropriate use of automated systems. Over-reliance and under-reliance on automation are well documented problems in fields where automation has been employed for a long time, such as factories and aviation. Research has shown that one of the key factors that influence an operator's reliance on automated systems is his or her trust of the system. Several factors, including risk, workload, and task difficulty have been found to influence an operator's trust of an automated system. With a model of trust based upon these factors, it is possible to design automated systems that foster well-calibrated trust and thereby prevent the misuse of automation. Over the past decade, robot systems have become more commonplace and increasingly autonomous. With the increased use of robot systems in multiple application domains, models of trust and operator behavior for human-robot interaction (HRI) must be created now in order to avoid some of the problems encountered by other automation domains in the past. Since traditional automation domains and HRI are significantly different, we reexamine trust and control allocation (operator's usage of autonomous behaviors) as it relates to robots with autonomous capabilities in order to discover the relevant factors in HRI. This dissertation examines existing work in traditional automation that is relevant to HRI and, based on that information, builds an experimental methodology to closely mimic real world remote robot teleoperation tasks. We also present results from multiple experiments examining the relationship between the different factors being investigated with respect to trust and control allocation. Based on these results, a model for human interaction with remote robots for teleoperation (HARRT) is proposed and design guidelines to help improve overall performance are presented based on the model. We describe a model of “trust” in human-robot systems that is inferred from their interactions, and inspired by similar concepts relating to trust among humans. This computable quantity allows a robot to estimate the extent to which its performance is consistent with a human's expectations, with respect to task demands. Our trust model drives an adaptive mechanism that dynamically adjusts the robot's autonomous behaviors, in order to improve the efficiency of the collaborative team. We illustrate this trust-driven methodology through an interactive visual robot navigation system. This system is evaluated through controlled user experiments and a field demonstration using an aerial robot. We present a shared-control framework predicated on a measure of trust in the operator, that is calculated automatically based on the quality of the interactions between a human and autonomous system. This measure of trust is built upon a control-theoretic foundation that rewards stable operation of the system to give more trusted users additional control authority. The level of control authority is used to modify the human input, and as a result, we observe a minimization of the required effort of the controller. We validate this work within a planar crane environment with a receding horizon controller to assist with the regulation of the system dynamics. The human defines the reference trajectory for the controller. In an experimental study users navigate a suspended payload through a set of maze configurations. We find that adaptation of the trust metric over time provides the benefit of substantially ( @math ) improving the automated system's ability to modulate the user's input, resulting in stable reference trajectories that require less effort to track. In effect, the human and automation spend less time fighting each other during task execution, suggesting that the automated system and user each have a better understanding of the other's ability.