Proxemics and Approach Evaluation by Service Robot Based on User Behavior in Domestic Environment

• Main Authors: Bhagya, S. M., Samarakoon, P., Chapa Sirithunge, H. P., Muthugala, M. A. Viraj J., Buddhika, A. G., Jayasekara, P.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Human behavior; Human-centered robotics; Human-robot interaction; Navigation; Proxemics; Robot kinematics; Robot sensing systems; Service robots; Task analysis; Wrist
• ISSN: 2153-0866
• DOI: 10.1109/IROS.2018.8593713

Intelligent service robots are used at a significant level to uplift the living standards of domestic users. These robots are expected to possess human-friendly interactive features. Service robots should be able to provide a variety of tasks to support independent living of users in domestic environments. Therefore, a service robot often needs to approach users to execute these services and the approach toward the users should be human friendly. In order to achieve this, proxemics planner of a service robot should be cable of deciding the approaching proxemics based on user behavior. This paper proposes a method to decide the approaching proxemics based on the behavior of the user. A fuzzy interference system has been designed to decide the proxemics based on the user behavior identified through body parameters. This leads to an effective interaction mechanism initiated by a robot in such a way that the approaching scenario looks more humanlike. The proposed concept has been implemented on MIRob platform and experiments were conducted in an artificially created domestic environment. The experimental results of the proposed system have been compared with results of a human study to evaluate the performance of the system.