Anticipating user and object poses through task-based extrapolation for robot-human collision avoidance

A robotic system comprising:

• a computing system with control software;
• a robot controller;
• one or more robotic limbs;
• one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media including instructions;
• and
• one or more processors coupled to the storage media, the one or more processors configured to execute the instructions to:
• determine, for a task to be executed at least in part by the robotic system, one or more objects and one or more actions associated with the one or more objects for completing the task, wherein each action is associated with a trajectory;
• determine, for each of one or more people in an environment associated with the robotic system, a pose of the respective person;
• predict, for each of the one or more people and based on the determined pose associated with the respective person, a three-dimensional, bounded trajectory volume comprising a plurality of 3D volumes for the respective person, wherein each 3D volume of the predicted trajectory volume for each person is associated with a predicted probability that the respective person or an action of the respective person will occupy that 3D volume during a particular timeframe;
• and
• determine whether one or more trajectories associated with one or more actions of the robotic system passes through the trajectory volume during the particular timeframe;
• and
• in response to a determination that one or more trajectories associated with one or more actions of the robotic system passes through the trajectory volume during the particular timeframe, then adjust the one or more trajectories associated with one or more actions of the robotic system;
• and
• in response to a determination that one or more trajectories associated with one or more actions of the robotic system does not pass through the trajectory volume in the particular timeframe, then leave the one or more trajectories associated with one or more actions of the robotic system unchanged.

A computer-readable non-transitory storage media comprising instructions executable by a processor of a robotic system to:

• determine, for a task to be executed at least in part by the robotic system, one or more objects and one or more actions associated with the one or more objects for completing the task, wherein each action is associated with a trajectory;
• determine, for each of one or more people in an environment associated with the robotic system, a pose of the respective person;
• predict, for each of the one or more people and based on the determined pose associated with the respective person, a three-dimensional, bounded trajectory volume comprising a plurality of 3D volumes for the respective person, wherein each 3D volume of the predicted trajectory volume for each person is associated with a predicted probability that the respective person or an action of the respective person occupy that 3D volume during a particular timeframe;
• and
• determine whether one or more trajectories associated with one or more actions of the robotic system passes through the trajectory volume during the particular timeframe;
• and
• in response to a determination that one or more trajectories associated with one or more actions of the robotic system passes through the trajectory volume during the particular timeframe, then adjust the one or more trajectories associated with one or more actions of the robotic system;
• and
• in response to a determination that one or more trajectories associated with one or more actions of the robotic system does not pass through the trajectory volume in the particular timeframe, then leave the one or more trajectories associated with one or more actions of the robotic system unchanged.