Human Leading or Following Preferences: Effects on Human Perception of the Robot and the Human-Robot Collaboration

TL;DR

The outcomes of the user study indicate that the proactive task planning framework successfully attains the aforementioned goals and the impact of participants' leadership and followership styles on their collaboration.

Abstract

Achieving effective and seamless human-robot collaboration requires two key outcomes: enhanced team performance and fostering a positive human perception of both the robot and the collaboration. This paper investigates the capability of the proposed task planning framework to realize these objectives by integrating human leading/following preferences and performance into its task allocation and scheduling processes. We designed a collaborative scenario wherein the robot autonomously collaborates with participants. The outcomes of the user study indicate that the proactive task planning framework successfully attains the aforementioned goals. We also explore the impact of participants' leadership and followership styles on their collaboration. The results reveal intriguing relationships between these factors which warrant further investigation in future studies.

Figures (20)

• Figure 1: Encompassing the entire spectrum of leading/following roles based on human preference and performance
• Figure 2: The layout of the experimental setup includes two tables in the robot's workspace and two tables in the human agent's workspace. Additionally, there is a shared area (table) where both agents need to arrange blocks. A conveyor belt beside human table 1 allows the robot to return a block to the human agent.
• Figure 3: An overview of the experimental setting captured from the perspective of the camera illustrated in Fig. \ref{['fig:exp_env']}
• Figure 4: a, c, e, g: Patterns A1, B1, C1, and D1 represent the set of patterns presented on paper sheets, requiring participants to memorize them within a 45-second timeframe before returning them to the experimenter. b, d, f, h: Patterns A2, B2, C2, and D2 are variations with some partially known spots, serving as cues for participants throughout the collaborative task, and they are permitted to retain these patterns until task completion to aid in recalling the first pattern.
• Figure 5: A screenshot of the graphical user interface (GUI) that enables participants to convey their actions to the robot and obtain information regarding the robot's decisions and actions (refer to Table \ref{['tab:actions']} for a list of actions).

Theorems & Definitions (1)

• Remark 1