An Evaluation of Robot-to-Human Handover Configurations for Commercial Robots

The handover of objects is a fundamental task in robot-human interaction. The nature of the handover can be varied by adjusting various parameters in order to achieve a human-like interaction. In this paper the final handover configuration is examined and analyzed. For this purpose, we conducted an experiment in which subjects taught a robot proper and improper end poses for different objects in different situations. We analyze the learned poses to determine what factors proper poses depend on. In addition to the poses, the configurations of the individual joints of the commercial robot are evaluated. Our results demonstrate that proper poses can be grouped into three clusters. These differ mainly in the rotation of the forearm. The height of a proper handover is also determined based on external factors.