August 28-31, 2023

Visual and Haptic Cues for Physical Human-Robot Interaction and Co-Manipulation
(Code u7526)

32nd IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, IEEE RO-MAN 2023
at Paradise Hotel, Busan, Korea

Nowadays, autonomous robots are capable of very precise motion. However, when physical interaction with humans and environment is also involved, the complexity of the addressed problems increases, requiring dedicated interaction strategies and appropriate perceived information. Specifically, in human-robot co-manipulation, combining high strength and repeatability of manipulators, with the cognitive ability and flexibility of human operators, is a decisive factor in multiple domains (e.g., human-robot object handover or collaborative transportation in industrial and service applications), involving active simultaneous handling of objects between the robot and the human partner.

In these scenarios, effective exploitation of visual and haptic sensing is essential on both sides (robot and human). On one hand, haptic stimuli, both natural and artificial, enable one to feel forces applied to a co-manipulated object, so as to retrieve the co-worker's motion intentions and react accordingly. On the other hand, visual feedback provides complementary information about objects, partner configuration, and state of the environment, thus being of paramount importance for safety, task precision, and planning.

The scope of this special session is to attract state-of-the-art articles on innovative approaches to the use of haptic and visual cues for human-robot interaction and co-manipulation, highlighting the importance of sensory feedback on human and robot sides. the effective exploitation of visuo-tactile cues, also in a multimodal fashion, is essential not only in a number of physical/proximate human-robot co-manipulation tasks (such as human-robot object handover and collaborative object transportation) but also in scenarios demanding high levels of safety and player awareness in remote environments (such as teleoperated robot-assisted medical procedures), using haptics and/or virtual/augmented/extended reality.

The scientific contributions presented in this special session are expected to impact the state-of-the-art with advances in the use of sensory feedback for human-robot interaction and co-manipulation. Novel solutions for visual-haptic feedback and user studies can provide safer human-robot interaction, so as to speed-up the deployment of safe and intuitive robotic systems into our homes, business, and services.

Topics

The primary list of topics of interest includes, but is not limited to:

Visuo-tactile feedback for assistive and collaborative robots
Human guidance visual-haptic algorithms and interfaces
Tactile-based human/robot intention estimation and role arbitration
Human-robot co-manipulation and object handover
Collaborative transportation of large objects
Visual and haptic cues for teleoperated robots
Design and development of visuo-tactile interfaces
Human-subjects experimental studies
Safety and awareness in remote environments
Haptics and vision for virtual/augmented/extended reality
Applications of visuo-tactile cueing methods

Organizers

Marco Costanzo

Università degli Studi della Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Italy

Mario Selvaggio

University of Naples Federico II (Naples, Italy)

Marco Ferro

CNRS, Univ Rennes, Inria, IRISA
(Rennes, France)

Claudio Pacchierotti