The multi-robot manipulation task, where a team of robots cooperatively lift and move objects, is exceptionally difficult due to the synchronization between the robots. Although increasing the number of robots can expand the area that the robots can cover within a bounded period of time, a poor human-robot interface will ultimately compromise the performance of the team of robots. However, intr...

Robots acquire behaviors to perform tasks, in general by being programmed, or occasionally by being instructed through demonstrations. In this thesis, we address the challenge of providing task behaviors to a robot through language instructions and interactions. We consider robots equipped with built-in motion and perception primitives with their functionality known to the user. We contribute I...

This paper presents an approach of dynamic task allocation that enables the robot to automatically perform task in a distributed manner within unknown environments. The proposed cooperative system is based on swarming behaviors inspired by biological colonies. We assume that the lightweight robot is incompetent and needs cooperation form other robots to perform a task. Communication is limited ...

Coordination is an essential characteristic of any task-achieving multi-robot system, whether it is accomplished through an explicit or implicit coordination mechanism. There is little formal work addressing how various coordination mechanisms are related, how appropriate they are for a given task, what capabilities they require of the robots, and what level of performance they can be expected ...

Robots are envisioned to collaborate with people in tasks that require physical manipulation such as a robot instructing a human in assembling household furniture, a human teaching a robot how to repair machinery, or a robot and a human collaboratively completing construction work. These scenarios characterize joint actions in which the robot and the human must effectively communicate and coord...

This paper investigates how social distance can serve as a lens through which we can understand human–robot relationships and develop guidelines for robot design. In two studies, we examine the effects of distance based on physical proximity (proxemic distance), organizational status (power distance), and task structure (task distance) on people's experiences with and perceptions of a humanlike...

The operation of an autonomous mobile robot in a semi-structured environment is a complex, usually non-linear and partly unpredictable process. Lacking a theory of robot–environment interaction that allows the design of robot control code based on theoretical analysis, roboticists still have to resort to trial-and-error methods in mobile robotics. The RobotMODIC project aims to develop a theore...

High-level symbolic representations of actions to control the working of autonomous robots are used in all hybrid (reactive and deliberative) robot control architectures. Abstract action representations serve several purposes, such as structuring the control code, optimizing the robot performance, and providing a basis for reasoning about future robot action. The paper presents results about re...