Beyond Human-Derived Motion: Exploring Robot-Specific Execution for Construction Humanoids

Overview & Synopsis

Construction productivity has remained a per- sistent challenge, motivating growing interest in humanoid robots that can operate in workspaces and with tools designed for human workers. Realizing this potential requires effective motion control, for which human-derived motion transfer has emerged as a promising approach by capturing and retargeting human demonstrations to humanoid robots. While promising, however, human-derived motion transfer may not fully define how a humanoid should ultimately execute the transferred motion. Once task-relevant motion information has been con- veyed, the humanoid may also exploit its own embodiment through motions that depart from the human demonstration. This study examines whether such Robot-Specific Motion offers an advantage in motion execution efficiency over Human- Derived Motion. On an adult-sized Unitree H1-2, Human- Derived Motion was generated through vision-based capture and retargeting, whereas Robot-Specific Motion used inverse kinematics and minimum-jerk transfers to reach the same targets while departing from the demonstrated posture, as verified using Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA). Across a pick-and-stack sequence representing construction material handling, with four matched motion targets and three trials per condition, Robot-Specific Motion achieved 12.87 s versus 25.03 s in execution time, 0.92 m versus 4.33 m in trajectory length, and 58.7 J versus 247.3 J in two-arm mechanical work. These findings suggest that allowing humanoids to depart from demonstrated human motion may offer additional opportunities for more efficient motion execution, while broader construction tasks are needed to determine whether such differences trans- late into productivity gains.