Adaptor: Advancing Assistive Teleoperation with Few-Shot Learning and Cross-Operator Generalization

Agentic AI
Published: arXiv: 2604.09462v1
Authors

Yu Liu Yihang Yin Tianlv Huang Fei Yan Yuan Xu Weinan Hong Wei Han Yue Cao Xiangyu Chen Zipei Fan Xuan Song

Abstract

Assistive teleoperation enhances efficiency via shared control, yet inter-operator variability, stemming from diverse habits and expertise, induces highly heterogeneous trajectory distributions that undermine intent recognition stability. We present Adaptor, a few-shot framework for robust cross-operator intent recognition. The Adaptor bridges the domain gap through two stages: (i) preprocessing, which models intent uncertainty by synthesizing trajectory perturbations via noise injection and performs geometry-aware keyframe extraction; and (ii) policy learning, which encodes the processed trajectories with an Intention Expert and fuses them with the pre-trained vision-language model context to condition an Action Expert for action generation. Experiments on real-world and simulated benchmarks demonstrate that Adaptor achieves state-of-the-art performance, improving success rates and efficiency over baselines. Moreover, the method exhibits low variance across operators with varying expertise, demonstrating robust cross-operator generalization.

Paper Summary

Problem
Assistive teleoperation systems, which enable robots to assist humans in tasks, face a significant challenge: they struggle to recognize the intentions of different operators, leading to inefficiencies and potential safety issues. This problem is particularly pronounced when operators have varying levels of experience and expertise, resulting in highly heterogeneous trajectory distributions that undermine intent recognition stability.
Key Innovation
The researchers propose a new framework called Adaptor, which addresses the problem of cross-operator intent recognition in assistive teleoperation systems. Adaptor is a few-shot learning framework that bridges the domain gap between operators with different habits and expertise. It consists of two stages: preprocessing, which models intent uncertainty by synthesizing trajectory perturbations, and policy learning, which encodes the processed trajectories with an Intention Expert and fuses them with a pre-trained vision-language model context.
Practical Impact
Adaptor has the potential to significantly improve the efficiency and safety of assistive teleoperation systems. By enabling robust cross-operator intent recognition, Adaptor can reduce the workload of operators and improve the overall quality of task execution. The framework's ability to generalize across operators with varying experience levels and behavioral profiles makes it a promising solution for real-world applications, such as robotic assembly, manufacturing, and healthcare.
Analogy / Intuitive Explanation
Imagine trying to teach a child how to ride a bike. You might demonstrate how to pedal and balance, but the child's initial attempts would likely be wobbly and unpredictable. Adaptor is like a system that helps the child (the robot) learn to ride the bike (perform tasks) by injecting "noise" into the demonstration trajectories, simulating different riding styles and habits. This allows the system to learn to recognize and adapt to various operator behaviors, making it more efficient and effective in assisting the operator.
Paper Information
Categories:
cs.RO
Published Date:

arXiv ID:

2604.09462v1

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