Using Visual Velocity Detection to Achieve Synchronization in Imitation

Synchronization and coordination are important mechanisms involved in imitation and social interaction. In this paper, we study different methods to improve the reactivity of agents to changes in their environment in different coordination tasks. In a robot synchronization task, we compare the differences between using only position detection or velocity detection. We first test an existing position detection approach, and then we compare the results with those obtained using a novel method that takes advantage of visual detection of velocity. We test and discuss the applicability of these two methods in several coordination scenarios, to conclude by seeing how to combine the advantages of both methods.