Acting, Interacting, Collaborative Robots

The current trend in computer vision is development of data-driven approaches where the use of large amounts of data tries to compensate for the complexity of the world captured by cameras. Are these approaches also viable solutions in robotics? Apart from 'seeing', a robot is capable of acting, thus purposively change what and how it sees the world around it. There is a need for an interplay between processes such as attention, segmentation, object detection, recognition and categorization in order to interact with the environment. In addition, the parameterization of these is inevitably guided by the task or the goal a robot is supposed to achieve. In this talk, I will present the current state of the art in the area of robot vision and discuss open problems in the area. I will also show how visual input can be integrated with proprioception, tactile and force-torque feedback in order to plan, guide and assess robot's action and interaction with the environment.Interaction between two agents builds on the ability to engage in mutual prediction and signaling. Thus, human-robot interaction requires a system that can interpret and make use of human signaling strategies in a social context. Our work in this area focuses on developing a framework for human motion prediction in the context of joint action in HRI. We base this framework on the idea that social interaction is highly influences by sensorimotor contingencies (SMCs). Instead of constructing explicit cognitive models, we rely on the interaction between actions the perceptual change that they induce in both the human and the robot. This approach allows us to employ a single model for motion prediction and goal inference and to seamlessly integrate the human actions into the environment and task context.We employ a deep generative model that makes inferences over future human motion trajectories given the intention of the human and the history as well as the task setting of the interaction. With help predictions drawn from the model, we can determine the most likely future motion trajectory and make inferences over intentions and objects of interest.