A Model for Human–Human Collaborative Object Manipulation and Its Application to Human–Robot Interaction

During collaborative object manipulation, the interaction forces provide a communication channel through which humans coordinate their actions. In order for the robots to engage in physical collaboration with humans, it is necessary to understand this coordination process. Unfortunately, there is no intrinsic way to define the interaction forces. In this study, we propose a model that allows us to compute the interaction force during a dyadic cooperative object manipulation task. The model is derived directly from the existing theories on human arm movements. The results of a user study with 22 human subjects prove the validity of the proposed model. The model is then embedded in a control strategy that enables the robot to engage in a cooperative task with a human. The performance evaluation of the controller through simulation shows that the control strategy is a promising candidate for a cooperative human-robot interaction.