How do Humans take an Object from a Robot: Behavior changes observed in a User Study
Parag Khanna, Elmira Yadollahi, Iolanda Leite, Mårten Björkman, Christian Smith
TL;DR
The paper investigates how humans alter their behavior when taking objects from a robot during handovers to improve human-robot interaction and trust. It presents a novice-user, multi-round handover study with programmed failures, explanations, and measurements of pull-based behaviors and handedness, including a 3N grip-release threshold and a 10-second timed release. Key contributions include a taxonomy of pulling patterns (PF, PS, HNP) and a Delta_B metric to quantify behavior changes, with substantial variation observed across 68 participants. The findings advocate online, user-specific adaptation of handover strategies to enhance usability and trust in autonomous robotic systems.
Abstract
To facilitate human-robot interaction and gain human trust, a robot should recognize and adapt to changes in human behavior. This work documents different human behaviors observed while taking objects from an interactive robot in an experimental study, categorized across two dimensions: pull force applied and handedness. We also present the changes observed in human behavior upon repeated interaction with the robot to take various objects.