Iterative virtual guides programming for human-robot comanipulation

In human-robot comanipulation, virtual guides are an important tool used to assist the human worker by reducing physical effort and cognitive overload during tasks accomplishment. However, virtual guide's construction often requires expert knowledge and modeling of the task which restricts the usefulness of virtual guides to scenarios with unchanging constraints. To overcome these challenges and enhance the flexibility of virtual guide's programming, we present a novel approach that allows the worker to create virtual guides by demonstration through an iterative method based on kinesthetic teaching and Akima splines. Thanks to this approach, the worker is able to locally modify the guides while being assisted by them, increasing the intuitiveness and naturalness of the process. Finally, we evaluate our approach in a simulated sanding task with a collaborative robot.