A novel human-robot controlling approach inspired by the processes of muscle memory and conditioned reflex

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a novel training-responding controlling approach for human–robot interaction. The approach is inspired by the processes of muscle memory and conditioned reflex. The approach is significant for dealing with the problems of robot’s redundant movements and operator’s fatigue in human–robot interaction system. Design/methodology/approach This paper presented a directional double clustering algorithm (DDCA) to achieve the training process. The DDCA ensured that the initial clustering centers uniformly distributed in every desired cluster. A minimal resource allocation network was used to construct a memory responding algorithm (MRA). When the human–robot interaction system needed to carry out a task for more than one time, the desired movements of the robot were given by the MRA without repeated training. Experimentally demonstrated results showed the proposed training-responding controlling approach could successfully accomplish human–robot interaction tasks. Findings The training-responding controlling approach improved the robustness and reliability of the human–robot interaction system, which presented a novel controlling method for the operator. Practical implications This approach has significant commercial applications, as a means of controlling for human–robot interaction could serve to point to the desired target and arrive at the appointed positions in industrial and household environment. Originality/value This work presented a novel training-responding human-robot controlling method. The human-robot controlling method dealt with the problems of robot’s redundant movements and operator’s fatigue. To the authors’ knowledge, the working processes of muscle memory and conditioned reflex have not been reported to apply to human-robot controlling.