Robot System Assistant (RoSA): Towards Intuitive Multi-Modal and Multi-Device Human-Robot Interaction.

Journal: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
Published Date:

Abstract

This paper presents an implementation of RoSA, a Robot System Assistant, for safe and intuitive human-machine interaction. The interaction modalities were chosen and previously reviewed using a Wizard of Oz study emphasizing a strong propensity for speech and pointing gestures. Based on these findings, we design and implement a new multi-modal system for contactless human-machine interaction based on speech, facial, and gesture recognition. We evaluate our proposed system in an extensive study with multiple subjects to examine the user experience and interaction efficiency. It reports that our method achieves similar usability scores compared to the entirely human remote-controlled robot interaction in our Wizard of Oz study. Furthermore, our framework's implementation is based on the Robot Operating System (ROS), allowing modularity and extendability for our multi-device and multi-user method.

Authors

  • Dominykas Strazdas
    Neuro-Information Technology, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany.
  • Jan Hintz
    Neuro-Information Technology, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany.
  • Aly Khalifa
    Neuro-Information Technology Group, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany.
  • Ahmed A Abdelrahman
    Neuro-Information Technology, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany.
  • Thorsten Hempel
    Neuro-Information Technology, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany.
  • Ayoub Al-Hamadi
    Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany.