A human-robot collaborative Traveling Salesman Problem: Robotic site inspection with human assistance

In this paper, we consider a collaborative human-robot Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP), where a robot is tasked with site inspection and target classification, under a limited motion energy budget and with a limited access to a human operator. More specifically, a robotic field operation is considered where a robot has to co-optimize seeking human assistance (via asking questions) and selective TSP tour design (for a closer inspection) based on an initial remote sensing. The robot has a limited budget for both communication with the human operator and site inspection motion consumption. By utilizing our past work on the target classification performance of humans and robots, we show how the collaborative human-robot TSP can be solved under limited resources. We further theoretically characterize the average correct classification probability as a function of the given number of questions to the human operator and the given motion energy budget. Extensive simulation results confirm our theoretical derivations.

[1]  Yael Edan,et al.  Optimal Collaboration in Human-Robot Target Recognition Systems , 2006, 2006 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics.

[2]  Hong Cai,et al.  To ask or not to ask: A foundation for the optimization of human-robot collaborations , 2015, 2015 American Control Conference (ACC).

[3]  Sonia Chernova,et al.  A Practical Comparison of Three Robot Learning from Demonstration Algorithm , 2012, International Journal of Social Robotics.

[4]  Naomi Ehrich Leonard,et al.  Towards Human–Robot Teams: Model-Based Analysis of Human Decision Making in Two-Alternative Choice Tasks With Social Feedback , 2012, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[5]  Yasamin Mostofi,et al.  Channel learning and communication-aware motion planning in mobile networks , 2010, Proceedings of the 2010 American Control Conference.

[6]  Gilbert Laporte,et al.  The selective travelling salesman problem , 1990, Discret. Appl. Math..

[7]  J. Beardwood,et al.  The shortest path through many points , 1959, Mathematical Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society.

[8]  Woojin Chung,et al.  Calibration of Kinematic Parameters for Two Wheel Differential Mobile Robots by Using Experimental Heading Errors , 2011 .

[9]  Robin R. Murphy,et al.  Moonlight in Miami: a field study of human-robot interaction in the context of an urban search and rescue disaster response training exercise , 2004 .

[10]  Emilio Frazzoli,et al.  Human-in-the-loop vehicle routing policies for dynamic environments , 2008, 2008 47th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control.

[11]  Vaibhav Srivastava,et al.  Stochastic Search and Surveillance Strategies for Mixed Human-Robot Teams , 2012 .

[12]  Yasamin Mostofi,et al.  To Go or Not to Go: On Energy-Aware and Communication-Aware Robotic Operation , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Control of Network Systems.

[13]  Brett Browning,et al.  Sliding Autonomy for Peer-To-Peer Human-Robot Teams , 2008 .

[14]  Yasamin Mostofi,et al.  Dynamic Networked Coverage of Time-Varying Environments in the Presence of Fading Communication Channels , 2014, ACM Trans. Sens. Networks.

[15]  Pietro Perona,et al.  Visual Recognition with Humans in the Loop , 2010, ECCV.

[16]  Robin R. Murphy,et al.  Moonlight in Miami : A Field Study of Human-Robot Interaction in the Context of an Urban Search and Rescue Disaster Response Training Exercise , 2003 .

[17]  Richard C. Larson,et al.  Urban Operations Research , 1981 .

[18]  Çetin Meriçli,et al.  Task Refinement for Autonomous Robots Using Complementary Corrective Human Feedback , 2011 .

[19]  Y. Charlie Hu,et al.  Energy-efficient motion planning for mobile robots , 2004, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2004. Proceedings. ICRA '04. 2004.

[20]  Yasamin Mostofi,et al.  Co-Optimization of Communication and Motion Planning of a Robotic Operation under Resource Constraints and in Fading Environments , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications.

[21]  Rahul Chipalkatty,et al.  Human-in-the-loop control for cooperative human-robot tasks , 2012 .