A Feasibility Study for Validating Robot Actions Using EEG-Based Error-Related Potentials

Validating human–robot interaction can be a challenging task, especially in cases in which the robot designer is interested in the assessment of individual robot actions within an ongoing interaction that should not be interrupted by intermittent surveys. In this paper, we propose a neuro-based method for real-time quantitative assessment of robot actions. The method encompasses the decoding of error-related potentials (ErrPs) from the electroencephalogram (EEG) of a human during interaction with a robot, which could be a useful and intuitive complement to existing methods for validating human–robot interaction in the future. To demonstrate usability, we conducted a study in which we examined EEG-based ErrPs in response to a humanoid robot displaying semantically incorrect actions in a simplistic HRI task. Furthermore, we conducted a procedurally identical control experiment with computer screen-based symbolic cursor action. The results of our study confirmed decodeability of ErrPs in response to incorrect robot actions with an average accuracy of $$69.0\pm 7.9\%$$69.0±7.9% across 11 subjects. Cross-comparisons of ErrPs between experimental tasks revealed high temporal and topographical similarity, but more distinct signals in response to the cursor action and, as a result, better decodeability with a mean accuracy of $$90.6\pm 3.9\%$$90.6±3.9%. This demonstrated that ErrPs can be sensitive to the stimulus eliciting them despite procedurally identical protocols. Re-using ErrP-decoders across experimental tasks without re-calibration is accompanied by significant performance losses and therefore not recommended. Overall, the outcomes of our study confirm feasibility of ErrP-decoding for human–robot validation, but also highlight challenges to overcome in order to enhance usability of the proposed method.