Scientists teach robots how to respect human space Gadgets Now

WASHINGTON: Scientists are teaching mobile robots how to respect the personal space of humans beings and avoid collisions with them. "When a robot follows a human as part of a formation, it is supposed that it must also respect these social zones to improve its social acceptance," said Herrera. Using impedance control, researchers aimed to regulate the social dynamics between the robot's movements and the interactions of the robot's environment. They did this by first analysing how a human leader and a human follower interact on a set track with well-defined borders. The feedback humans use to adjust their behaviors - letting someone know they're following too closely, for example - was marked as social forces and treated as defined physical fields.