HUMAN-ROBOT HANDSHAKING USING NEURAL OSCILLATORS

抄録

In this study we propose a framework using neural oscillators for human-robot physical interaction such as “handshaking”. Neural oscillators are used for synchronization and entrainment between human and robot motions. Passiveness of the handshake can be changed by adjusting strength of the synchronization. Joint torque information is taken as an input signal for the neural oscillators, which generates the desired trajectory of each robot joint. This paper addresses a model structure of the neural oscillator for human-robot physical interaction. Computer simulations of handshaking show the synchronization and the entrainment. In addition, the experiments with a joint torque sensing robot arm show that a handshake between a robot and a human being can be realized by the proposed method. Finally, the validity of the proposed method was examined through a psychological evaluation with a paired comparison method, which found that the proposed method was better than conventional impedance control in terms of “Flexible”, “Natural”, “Kind” and “Affinity”.