Real-Time Service Robot Replanning Via Simple Button Interaction for Improved Task Success and User Experience

Abstract

Service robots must respond to unexpected instructions in real-world environments. However, robots cannot detect all failures and exceptions during a task. To address these issues, we propose a real-time feedback function that enables robots to modify their behavior based on human feedback. In this system, users can intuitively send feedback to the robot by pressing a single button on a tablet when the robot fails to act correctly. Robots use this feedback to consider their failures and replan appropriate actions to complete the task. We conducted experiments with and without the feedback function to verify the following hypothesis: “Simple interactions do not cause a negative user experience.” All questionnaire responses are evaluated on a five-point Likert scale. After adding the feedback function, the response score for the question “Did you feel that the robot' s behavior was unexpected?” improved by 0.5 points, and that for “Did you feel anxious about the robot's behavior at times?” improved by 0.9 points. These results support the study's hypothesis and indicate that incorporating this real-time feedback function can simultaneously improve task success and the user experience.