Intention Reasoning for User Action Sequences via Fusion of Object Task and Object Action Affordances Based on Dempster-Shafer Theory.

Journal: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
PMID:

Abstract

To reduce the burden on individuals with disabilities when operating a Wheelchair Mounted Robotic Arm (WMRA), many researchers have focused on inferring users' subsequent task intentions based on their "gazing" or "selecting" of scene objects. In this paper, we propose an innovative intention reasoning method for users' action sequences by fusing object task and object action affordances based on Dempster-Shafer Theory (D-S theory). This method combines the advantages of probabilistic reasoning and visual affordance detection to establish an affordance model for objects and potential tasks or actions based on users' habits and object attributes. This facilitates encoding object task (OT) affordance and object action (OA) affordance using D-S theory to perform action sequence reasoning. Specifically, the method includes three main aspects: (1) inferring task intentions from the object of user focus based on object task affordances encoded with Causal Probabilistic Logic (CP-Logic); (2) inferring action intentions based on object action affordances; and (3) integrating OT and OA affordances through D-S theory. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method reduces the number of interactions by an average of 14.085% compared to independent task intention inference and by an average of 52.713% compared to independent action intention inference. This demonstrates that the proposed method can capture the user's real intention more accurately and significantly reduce unnecessary human-computer interaction.

Authors

  • Yaxin Liu
    Industrial Research Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Equipment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Weihai 264209, China. liuyaxin@hit.edu.cn.
  • Can Wang
    School of Acu-Mox and Tuina, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China.
  • Yan Liu
    Department of Clinical Microbiology, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200072, People's Republic of China.
  • Wenlong Tong
    State Key Laboratory of Robotics and System, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China.
  • Ming Zhong
    Department of Land Resources and Environment, School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.