HRC Metrology: Assessment Criteria, Metrics and Methods for Human–Robot Co-Manipulation Tasks

We developed a human–robot collaborative manipulation system (co-manipulation system) in the form of a power assist robotic system (PARS) where a human and a robot collaborated to perform the co-manipulation of an object with power assistance. We conducted an experiment (the first experiment), where in each trial of the experiment, a human subject performed the co-manipulation of the object with the PARS, and an expert human–robot co-manipulation researcher observed the co-manipulation task. We collected the co-manipulation and observation data, analyzed the data, and conducted reviews of the related literature, and developed the HRC (human–robot collaboration) metrology, which consisted of necessary criteria, metrics and methods to assess human–robot collaborative manipulation tasks. The proposed HRC metrology consisted of both human–robot collaborative performance and human–robot interactions (HRI) related assessment criteria. Then, we developed another human–robot co-manipulation system using a robot manipulator. In this system, the human–robot co-manipulation task was performed in conjunction with a collaborative assembly task between the robot and human co-workers. In another experiment (the second experiment), we assessed the co-manipulation task for each robotic system separately based on the developed HRC metrology (set of assessment criteria, metrics and methods) to verify and validate the practicality, usability and effectiveness of the criteria, metrics and methods. The results showed that the HRC metrology was effective and practical in assessing the co-manipulation tasks. We then discussed the strengths and limitations of the assessment criteria, metrics and methods. The proposed HRC metrology can be used to assess human–robot collaborative performance and human–robot interactions in human–robot co-manipulation tasks with potential real-world applications in industrial manipulation and manufacturing, transport, logistics, civil construction, rescue and disaster management, timber processing, etc.