Modelling Human Motion: From Human Perception to Robot Design

The book "Human Motion Understanding: Perception, Action, and Interaction" provides a comprehensive overview of the challenging research field of human motion perception and action, closing the loop between perception and action, and between human-studies and robotics. It covers human motion perception from the neural substrates of human action understanding to computational perspectives on cutting-edge solutions available from the Computer Vision and Machine Learning research fields. It also considers the implications for robotics, with chapters on how motor control is achieved in the latest generation of artificial agents and how such technologies have been exploited to favor human-robot interaction. The book is organized in three main parts and positions itself in a field at the intersection of Robotics, Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, Psychology, Computer Vision, and Machine Learning. It offers a common reference point for researchers interested in human motion for different applications and from different standpoints.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 354 pages
Publication date: 10 July 2021
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland AG

The new frontiers of robotics research foresee future scenarios where artificial agents will leave the laboratory to progressively take part in the activities of our daily life. This will require robots to have very sophisticated perceptual and action skills in many intelligence-demanding applications, with particular reference to the ability to seamlessly interact with humans. It will be crucial for the next generation of robots to understand their human partners and at the same time to be intuitively understood by them. In this context, a deep understanding of human motion is essential for robotics applications, where the ability to detect, represent, and recognize human dynamics and the capability for generating appropriate movements in response sets the scene for higher-level tasks. This book provides a comprehensive overview of this challenging research field, closing the loop between perception and action, and between human-studies and robotics. The book is organized in three main parts. The first part focuses on human motion perception, with contributions analyzing the neural substrates of human action understanding, how perception is influenced by motor control, and how it develops over time and is exploited in social contexts. The second part considers motion perception from the computational perspective, providing perspectives on cutting-edge solutions available from the Computer Vision and Machine Learning research fields, addressing higher-level perceptual tasks. Finally, the third part takes into account the implications for robotics, with chapters on how motor control is achieved in the latest generation of artificial agents and how such technologies have been exploited to favor human-robot interaction. This book considers the complete human-robot interaction, from perception to action, and from human-studies to robotics.

Weight: 557g
Dimension: 235 x 155 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783030467340
Edition number: 1st ed. 2020