A proactive controller for human-driven robots based on force/motion observer mechanisms

This article investigates human-driven robots via physical interaction, which is enhanced by integrating the human partner's motion intention. A human motor control model is employed to estimate the human partner's motion intention. A system observer is developed to estimate the human's control input in this model, so that force sensing is not required. A robot controller is developed to incorporate the estimated human's motion intention, which makes the robot proactively follow the human partner's movements. Simulations and experiments on a physical robot are carried out to demonstrate the properties of our proposed controller.