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SUMMARY:Interaction between humans and with robot - Etienne Burdet\, Imper
 ial College London
DTSTART:20191017T130000Z
DTEND:20191017T140000Z
UID:TALK129778@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Alberto Padoan
DESCRIPTION:My talk will present experiments and computational modelling t
 o i) understand how humans learn to skilfully interact with their environm
 ent and with each other\, and ii) endow robots with similarly successful c
 ontrol behaviours. \nImpedance control describes how biological or robotic
  motor commands can shape the mechanical interaction with the environment.
  We have previously provided the first clear experimental evidence of impe
 dance control in humans and described the underlying computational mechani
 sm\, which led to a novel adaptive behaviour for robots. This talk will fi
 rst present how this behaviour can be/is used for haptic exploration of ri
 gid and soft objects in robots and humans.\nI will then concentrate on our
  recent research to understand how do humans exchange haptic information t
 hrough touch in order to coordinate their actions. By examining the behavi
 ours of individuals when their right hands are physically connected\, we c
 ould show how haptic information enables humans to estimate partners’ mo
 tor plan and use it to improve one own performance. Embodied as a robot pa
 rtner\, this model was verified as it induced the same improvements in mot
 or performance as a human partner. We further elucidated how the sensory e
 xchange is influenced by the interaction mechanics and how its benefits in
 crease with the number of partners. These results elucidate the haptic com
 munication taking place between physically interacting humans and promise 
 collaborative robot systems with human-like assistance. 
LOCATION: Cambridge University Engineering Department\,  Seminar Room JDB
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