Title
Discovering task constraints through observation and active learning
Abstract
Effective robot collaborators that work with humans require an understanding of the underlying constraint network of any joint task to be performed. Discovering this network allows an agent to more effectively plan around co-worker actions or unexpected changes in its environment. To maximize the practicality of collaborative robots in real-world scenarios, humans should not be assumed to have an abundance of either time, patience, or prior insight into the underlying structure of a task when relied upon to provide the training required to impart proficiency and understanding. This work introduces and experimentally validates two demonstration-based active learning strategies that a robot can utilize to accelerate context-free task comprehension. These strategies are derived from the action-space graph, a dual representation of a Semi-Markov Decision Process graph that acts as a constraint network and informs query generation.We present a pilot study showcasing the effectiveness of these active learning algorithms across three representative classes of task structure. Our results show an increased effectiveness of active learning when utilizing feature-based query strategies, especially in multi-instructor scenarios, achieving better task comprehension from a relatively small quantity of training demonstrations. We further validate our results by creating virtual instructors from a model of our pilot study participants, and applying it to a set of 12 more complex, real world food preparation tasks with similar results.
Year
DOI
Venue
2014
10.1109/IROS.2014.6943191
Intelligent Robots and Systems
Keywords
Field
DocType
Markov processes,directed graphs,human-robot interaction,intelligent robots,multi-robot systems,query processing,action-space graph,co-worker actions,collaborative robot practicality maximization,constraint network,context-free task comprehension acceleration,demonstration-based active learning strategies,dual representation,environment change,feature-based query strategies,joint task,multiinstructor scenarios,network discovery,observation,query generation,real world food preparation tasks,real-world scenarios,representative task structure classes,semiMarkov decision process graph,task comprehension,task constraint discovery,training demonstrations,virtual instructor creation
Graph,Active learning,Computer science,Artificial intelligence,Decision process,Robot,Machine learning,Comprehension
Conference
ISSN
Citations 
PageRank 
2153-0858
14
0.88
References 
Authors
14
2
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Bradley Hayes1659.58
Brian Scassellati2171.98