Assessment and Benchmark Metrics for Human-Robot Collaborative Object Manipulation Tasks

We developed a human-robot collaborative system in the form of a hybrid cell where a human and a robot could collaborate to perform manipulation tasks for assembly operations in a flexible manufacturing setup. We conducted an experiment where 20 human subjects separately performed the assembly task in collaboration with the robot. We observed the collaborative assembly task, reviewed related state-of-the-art research results, interviewed the subjects, relevant researchers and industry personnel and thus derived a comprehensive set of assessment and benchmark metrics and methods for the collaborative manipulation task. The metrics included the core requirements of the task expressed as the key performance indicators (KPI) and the effectiveness of interactions between the human and the robot for the task. We also discussed the strengths and limitations of the proposed assessment and benchmark metrics and methods. The proposed benchmark metrics and methods can help assess and benchmark the overall performance and interactional effectiveness of human-robot collaborative manipulation tasks and systems for various applications such as industrial manufacturing, logistics and transport, military, construction, disaster operations, etc.