arXiv subjects

Suchang Chen

Publications and source records attributed to Suchang Chen.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

A Vision Based Framework Integrating Attention and Action Cues for Interpretable Cognitive Workload Assessment in Human-Robot Collaborative Assembly

The introduction of human-robot collaboration (HRC) in industrial assembly operations is revolutionizing the manufacturing landscape. In this evolving environment, operators are required to seamlessly coordinate their manual tasks with real-time task information and robotic behaviors. These demands fluctuate during operation, yet conventional workload assessments depend on body-worn physiological sensors that complicate practical deployment. Here, we present a vision-based attention--action framework for continuous and interpretable workload-related assessment in HRC assembly. The framework combines RGB-D observations with robot states and calibrated task-related areas to construct a temporally confirmed representation of operator behavior. This representation identifies where task demand is concentrated and explains how it develops when attention and action diverge, the task context changes, or the operator hesitates. We evaluated the framework in a three-level collaborative gearbox assembly experiment with ten participants, using subjective ratings and synchronized physiological signals as independent references. Raw NASA-TLX ratings confirmed increasing perceived workload across conditions, with significant effects on overall workload and its mental and temporal dimensions. The vision-derived HRC-CWL output was significantly associated with ECG-derived features in seven of nine participants with complete correlation data. Synchronized interaction episodes further showed temporal correspondence between detected hesitation and physiological activity. Real-time deployment demonstrated that the framework can operate without requiring operators to wear additional sensors. These findings support HRC-CWL as an interpretable behavioral proxy for cognitive ergonomics analysis and adaptive robot assistance, rather than a direct psychophysiological measure of workload.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2025

Bio-inspired reconfigurable stereo vision for robotics using omnidirectional cameras

This work introduces a novel bio-inspired reconfigurable stereo vision system for robotics, leveraging omnidirectional cameras and a novel algorithm to achieve flexible visual capabilities. Inspired by the adaptive vision of various species, our visual system addresses traditional stereo vision limitations, i.e., immutable camera alignment with narrow fields of view, by introducing a reconfigurable stereo vision system to robotics. Our key innovations include the reconfigurable stereo vision strategy that allows dynamic camera alignment, a robust depth measurement system utilizing a nonrectified geometrical method combined with a deep neural network for feature matching, and a geometrical compensation technique to enhance visual accuracy. Implemented on a metamorphic robot, this vision system demonstrates its great adaptability to various scenarios by switching its configurations of 316° monocular with 79° binocular field for fast target seeking and 242° monocular with 150° binocular field for detailed close inspection.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2025

Towards Logic-Aware Manipulation: A Knowledge Primitive for VLM-Based Assistants in Smart Manufacturing

Existing pipelines for vision-language models (VLMs) in robotic manipulation prioritize broad semantic generalization from images and language, but typically omit execution-critical parameters required for contact-rich actions in manufacturing cells. We formalize an object-centric manipulation-logic schema, serialized as an eight-field tuple τ, which exposes object, interface, trajectory, tolerance, and force/impedance information as a first-class knowledge signal between human operators, VLM-based assistants, and robot controllers. We instantiate τ and a small knowledge base (KB) on a 3D-printer spool-removal task in a collaborative cell, and analyze τ-conditioned VLM planning using plan-quality metrics adapted from recent VLM/LLM planning benchmarks, while demonstrating how the same schema supports taxonomy-tagged data augmentation at training time and logic-aware retrieval-augmented prompting at test time as a building block for assistant systems in smart manufacturing enterprises.

cs.RO↗