DURIP: Humanoid Platforms for Human-Robot Collaboration

Abstract: The goal of this proposal is to establish at the University of Nevada, Reno a robotic infrastructure that would enable groundbreaking research in a wide range of topics related to mobile articulated robots. The proposed system consists of the Baxter humanoid robot and the PR2 robotic platform, whose extensive sensory, motor and computational capabilities open up the possibility of addressing research questions that could not have even been formulated in the context of the current publicly available robotic systems.

Details

  • Organization: Office of Naval Research (ONR)
  • Award #: N00014-14-1-0776
  • Amount: $312,000
  • Date: May 1, 2014 - June 30, 2015
  • PI: Dr. Monica Nicolescu
  • Co-PI: Dr. David Feil-Seifer
    Dr. Mircea Nicolescu

Supported Publications

  • Banisetty, S., Forer, S., Yliniemi, L., Nicolescu, M., & Feil-Seifer, D. Socially-Aware Navigation: A Non-linear Multi-Objective Optimization Approach. In ACM Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems, 11(15), Jul 2021. ( details ) ( .pdf )
  • Banisetty, S., Multi-Context Socially-Aware Navigation Using Non-Linear Optimization. University of Nevada Reno, May 2020. ( details ) ( .pdf )
  • Anima, B., Blankenburg, J., Zagainova, M., Hoseini, S., Chowdhury, M., Feil-Seifer, D., Nicolescu, M., & Nicolescu, M. Collaborative Human-Robot Hierarchical Task Execution with an Activation Spreading Architecture. In International Conference on Social Robotics, page 301-310, Madrid, Spain, Nov 2019. ( details ) ( .pdf )
  • Nicolescu, M., Arnold, N., Blankenburg, J., Feil-Seifer, D., Banisetty, S., Nicolescu, M., Palmer, A., & Monteverde, T. Learning of Complex-Structured Tasks from Verbal Instruction. In International Conference on Humanoid Robots, Toronto, Canada, Oct 2019. ( details ) ( .pdf )
  • Hoseini, S., Blankenburg, J., Nicolescu, M., Nicolescu, M., & Feil-Seifer, D. An Active Robotic Vision System with a Pair of Moving and Stationary Cameras. In Proceedings of the International Symposium on Visual Computing (ISVC), Lake Tahoe, NV, Oct 2019. ( details ) ( .pdf )
  • Banisetty, S. & Feil-Seifer, D. Towards a Unified Planner For Socially-Aware Navigation. In AAAI Fall Symposium Series: AI-HRI Artificial Intelligence for Human-Robot Interaction, Nov 2018. ( details ) ( .pdf )
  • Forer, S., Banisetty, S., Yliniemi, L., Nicolescu, M., & Feil-Seifer, D. Socially-Aware Navigation Using Non-Linear Multi-Objective Optimization. In IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Madrid, Spain, Oct 2018. ( details ) ( .pdf )
  • Blankenburg, J., Banisetty, S., Hoseini, S., Fraser, L., Feil-Seifer, D., Nicolescu, M., & Nicolescu, M. A Distributed Control Architecture for Collaborative Multi-Robot Task Allocation. In International Conference on Humanoid Robots, Birmingham, UK, Nov 2017. ( details ) ( .pdf )
  • Sebastian, M., Banisetty, S., & Feil-Seifer, D. Socially-Aware Navigation Planner Using Models of Human-Human Interaction. In International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), page 405-410, Lisbon, Portugal, Aug 2017. ( details ) ( .pdf )
  • Banisetty, S., Sebastian, M., & Feil-Seifer, D. Socially-Aware Navigation: Action Discrimination to Select Appropriate Behavior. In 2016 AAAI Fall Symposium Series: AI-HRI Artificial Intelligence for Human-Robot Interaction, Arlington, VA, Nov 2016. ( details ) ( .pdf )
  • Fraser, L., Rekabdar, B., Nicolescu, M., Nicolescu, M., Feil-Seifer, D., & Bebis, G. A compact task representation for hierarchical robot control. In International Conference on Humanoid Robots, page 697-704, Cancun, Mexico, IEEE. Nov 2016. IEEE. ( details ) ( .pdf )
  • Banisetty, S., Sebastian, M., & Feil-Seifer, D. Socially-Aware Navigation: Action Discrimination To Select Appropriate Behavior. Poster Paper in Annual Graduate Poster Symposium (GSA), Nov 2016. ( details ) ( .pdf )
  • Poston, J., Lucas, H., Carlson, Z., & Feil-Seifer, D. Does the Safety Demand Characteristic Influence Human-Robot Interaction?. In International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR), volume 9979, page 850-859, Springer International Publication. Nov 2016. Springer International Publication. ( details ) ( .pdf )
  • Lucas, H., Poston, J., Yocum, N., Carlson, Z., & Feil-Seifer, D. Too big to be mistreated? Examining the Role of Robot Size on Perceptions of Mistreatment. In IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), page 1071-1076, New York, NY, Aug 2016. ( details ) ( .pdf )
  • Fraser, L., Rekabdar, B., Nicolescu, M., Nicolescu, M., & Feil-Seifer, D. A Hierarchical Control Architecture for Robust and Adaptive Collaborative Robot Task Execution. In Robotics: Science \& Systems: Workshop on Planning for Human-Robot Interaction: Shared Autonomy and , Cambridge, Massachusetts, Jun 2016. ( details ) ( .pdf )
  • Carlson, Z., Sweet, T., Rhizor, J., Lucas, H., Poston, J., & Feil-Seifer, D. Team-Building Activities For Heterogeneous Groups of Humans and Robots. In International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR), page 113-123, Paris, France, Oct 2015. ( details ) ( .pdf )

Supported Projects

Social Impact of Long-Term Cooperation With Robots July 1, 2013 - Present

SAR envisions robots acting in very human-like roles, such as coach, therapist, or partner. This is a sharp contrast from manufacturing or office assistant roles that are more well-understood. In some cases, we can use human-human interaction as a guide for HRI; in others, human-computer interaction can be a suitable guide. However, there may be cases where neither human-human nor human-computer interaction provide a sufficient framework to envision how people may react to a robot over a long term. Empirical research is required in order to examine these relationships in more detail. Preliminary work suggests that a person sometimes views a robot as very machine-like, but others suggest that a robot can take on a social role. Long-term interaction between humans and robots might also expose previously unforeseen challenges for creating and sustaining relationships. Experiment design experts suggest that participants in lab studies might subconsciously change their reactions to the robot given certain assumptions that arise from being in a research setting. This could have ramifications for in-lab research related to lt-HRI, requiring out-of-lab validation as well. This objective will study these and other social factors related to lt-HRI to observe how they may impact acceptance and cooperation.