Robonaut task learning through teleoperation

This paper addresses the problem of automatic skill acquisition by a robot. It reports that six trials of a reach-grasp-release-retract skill are sufficient for learning a canonical description of the task under the following circumstances: The robot is Robonaut, NASA's space-capable, dexterous humanoid. Robonaut was teleoperated by a person using full immersion Virtual Reality technology that transforms the operator's arm and hand motions into those of the robot. The operator's sole source of real-time feedback was visual. During the six trials all of the Robot's sensory inputs and motor control parameters were recorded as time-series. Later the time-series from each trial was partitioned into the same number of episodes as a function of changes in the motor parameter sequence. The episodes were time normalized and averaged across trials The resultant motor parameter sequence and sensor signals were used to control the robot without the teleoperator. The robot was able to perform the task autonomously with robot starting positions and object locations both similar to, and different from the original trials.