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.