Digital symbiosis lets robot co-workers predict human behaviour

Robots across the world help out in factories by taking on heavy lifting or repetitive jobs, but the walking, talking kind may soon collaborate with people, thanks to European robotics researchers building prototypes that anticipate human actions. 'Ideally robots should be able to sense interactional forces, like carrying a table with someone,' said Francesco Nori, who coordinates the EU-funded An.Dy project which aims to advance human-robot collaboration. '(Robots) need to know what the human is about to do and what they can do to help.' In any coordinated activity, whether dancing or lifting a table together, timing is crucial and that means a robot needs to anticipate before a person acts. 'Today, robots just react – half a second of anticipation might be enough,' said Nori, who works at the Italian Institute of Technology which is renowned for its humanoid robot called iCub, that will be educated in human behaviour from data collected during the An.Dy project.