Title: Bayesian reasoning for Laban Movement Analysis used in human-machine interaction

Authors: Jorg Rett, Jorge Dias, Juan-Manuel Ahuactzin

Addresses: Institute of Systems and Robotics, University of Coimbra, Polo II, 3030-290 Coimbra, Portugal. ' Institute of Systems and Robotics, University of Coimbra, Polo II, 3030-290 Coimbra, Portugal. ' Probayes SAS 345, rue Lavoisier, Inovallee, 38330 Montbonnot, France

Abstract: We present the implementation of computational Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) for human-machine interaction using Bayesian reasoning. The research field of computational human movement analysis is lacking a general underlying modelling language, i.e., how to map the features into symbols. With such a semantic descriptor, the recognition problem can be posed as a problem to recognise a sequence of symbols taken from an alphabet consisting of motion-entities. LMA has been proven successful in areas where humans are observing other humans| movements. LMA provides a model for observation and description and a notational system (Labanotation). To implement LMA in a computer, we have chosen a Bayesian approach. The framework allows us to model the process, learn the dependencies between features and symbols and to perform online classification using LMA-labels. We have chosen the application |social robots| to demonstrate the feasibility of our solution.

Keywords: laban movement analysis; LMA; human movement analysis; computer vision; social robots; Bayesian approaches; Bayesian reasoning; human-machine interaction; human-machine interface; HMI; modelling languages; semantics.

DOI: 10.1504/IJRIS.2010.029812

International Journal of Reasoning-based Intelligent Systems, 2010 Vol.2 No.1, pp.13 - 35

Published online: 02 Dec 2009 *

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