Automated derivation of primitives for movement classification

We describe a new method for representing human movement compactly, in terms of a linear super-imposition of simpler movements termed primitives. This method is a part of a larger research project aimed at modeling motor control and imitation using the notion of perceptuo-motor primitives, a basis set of coupled perceptual and motor routines. In our model, the perceptual system is biased by the set of motor behaviors the agent can execute. Thus, an agent can automatically classify observed movements into its executable repertoire. In this paper, we describe a method for automatically deriving a set of primitives directly from human movement data. We used movement data gathered from a psychophysical experiment on human imitation to derive the primitives. The data were first filtered, then segmented, and principal component analysis was applied to the segments. The eigenvectors corresponding to a few of the highest eigenvalues provide us with a basis set of primitives. These are used, through superposition and sequencing, to reconstruct the training movements as well as novel ones. The validation of the method was performed on a humanoid simulation with physical dynamics. The effectiveness of the motion reconstruction was measured through an error metric. We also explored and evaluated a technique of clustering in the space of primitives for generating controllers for executing frequently used movements.