Natural methods for robot task learning: instructive demonstrations, generalization and practice

Among humans, teaching various tasks is a complex process which relies on multiple means for interaction and learning, both on the part of the teacher and of the learner. Used together, these modalities lead to effective teaching and learning approaches, respectively. In the robotics domain, task teaching has been mostly addressed by using only one or very few of these interactions. In this paper we present an approach for teaching robots that relies on the key features and the general approach people use when teaching each other: first give a demonstration, then allow the learner to refine the acquired capabilities by practicing under the teacher’s supervision, involving a small number of trials. Depending on the quality of the learned task, the teacher may either demonstrate it again or provide specific feedback during the learner’s practice trial for further refinement. Also, as people do during demonstrations, the teacher can provide simple instructions and informative cue...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2003
• Where: ATAL
• Authors: Monica N. Nicolescu, Maja J. Mataric
• Keywords: ATAL 2003, Human-robot Teaching Approach, Multiple Demonstrations, Teacher