Improving human-computer cooperation through haptic role exchange and negotiation

Even though in many systems, computers have been programmed to share control with human operators in order to increase task performance, the interaction in such systems is still artificial when compared to natural human-human cooperation. In complex tasks, cooperating human partners may have their own agendas and take initiatives during the task. Such initiatives contribute to a richer interaction between cooperating parties, yet little research exists on how this can be established between a human and a computer. In a cooperation involving haptics, the coupling between the human and the computer should be defined such that the computer can understand the intentions of the human operator and respond accordingly. We believe that this will make the haptic interactions between the human and the computer more natural and human-like. In this regard, we suggest (1) a role exchange mechanism that is activated based on the magnitude of the force applied by the cooperating parties and (2) a negotiation model that enables more human-like coupling between the cooperating parties. We argue that when presented through the haptic channel, the proposed role exchange mechanism and the negotiation model serve to communicate the cooperating parties dynamically, naturally, and seamlessly, in addition to improving the task efficiency of the user. In this chapter, we explore how human-computer cooperation can be improved using a role-exchange mechanism and a haptic negotiation framework. We also discuss the use of haptic negotiation in assigning different behaviors to the computer; and the effectiveness of visual and haptic cues in conveying negotiation-related complex affective states. Throughout this chapter, we will adopt a broad terminology and speak of cooperative systems, in which both parties take some part in control, as shared control schemes, but the term “control” is merely used to address the partners’ manipulation capacities on the task