Adaptive optimal control for coordination in physical human-robot interaction

In this paper, we propose an adaptive optimal control for a robot to collaborate with a human. Game theory and policy iteration are employed to analyze the interactive behaviors of the human and the robot in physical interactions. The human´s control objective is estimated and it is used to adapt the robot´s own objective, such that human-robot coordination can be achieved. An optimal control is developed to guarantee that the robot´s control objective is realized. The validity of the proposed method is verified through rigorous analysis and experiment studies.