Conventional, Heuristic and Learning-Based Robot Motion Planning: Reviewing Frameworks of Current Practical Significance
Hao Ma
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This paper presents an overview of some of the most essential aspects of motion planning algorithms for mobile robots, and very few aspects of considerations required for efficiently assimilating robots into contexts demanding human-robot interaction.
Considering these aspects, I believe that the title of the paper should be changed (remove human-robot interaction). Mobile robots should also be added in the title, because even if industrial robots are the majority (in terms of number), this work treats mobile robots as a priority (their motion planning). Multi-arm robotic systems are presented in half a page.
All figures and algorithms are taken from references.
Figure 1 - too small - and not really related to the work. In the text of the article, no important references are made to the content of figure 1.
In the Introduction too little (almost not at all) about Human-Robot Interaction.
Very few references to Human-Robot Interaction.
The conclusions refer too little to Human-Robot Interaction and the Role of Motion Planning.
At the Conclusions, I do not understand the connection between Figure 6 and the subject of the article (HRI and MP).
Some editing errors in text and references (973 “which would yield the a set of viewpoints” etc.).
Missing from references:
T. Yu and Q. Chang, "Motion Planning for Human-Robot Collaboration based on Reinforcement Learning," 2022 IEEE 18th International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE), Mexico City, Mexico, 2022, pp. 1866-1871, doi: 10.1109/CASE49997.2022.9926471.
Akbari A, Diab M, Rosell J. Contingent Task and Motion Planning under Uncertainty for Human–Robot Interactions. Applied Sciences. 2020; 10(5):1665. https://doi.org/10.3390/app10051665
Author Response
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Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The paper presents a survey on motion planning and its role in the context of human-robot interaction. The topics of the paper are interesting. However, several points need to be considered to improve the quality of the work:
1) The main contributions of the paper are not clear. The authors should better highlight the main contributions also with respect to other similar works on the topic. A bullet point list could be helpful to identify the main contributions at the end of the introduction.
2) No methodology is presented. It is not clear how the survey has been conducted and how the papers have been collected and classified.
3) No tables are reported to classify the surveyed papers. Furthermore, no quantitative analysis of the results is shown (e.g., percentage of papers for each category, trend/number of papers published per year).
4) Few figures and images are present for a survey paper. Furthermore, the quality of the images should be improved.
5) The final discussion should be improved, by adding more guidelines and future research trends in the topic.
6) The topic of human-robot collaboration is only briefly discussed. Safety in human-robot collaboration is not extensively analyzed (e.g., the speed and separation monitoring approach and the strategies developed to modify/update the robot motion in real time to avoid a potential collision with a human operator).
7) The literature review should be extended. Some suggested references are the following:
· Path Planning for Special Robotic Operations. In Robot Design: From Theory to Service Applications (pp. 69-95). Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2022.
· Collision-free human-robot collaboration based on context awareness. Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, 67, 101997, 2021.
· Optimal scaling of dynamic safety zones for collaborative robotics. In 2021 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) (pp. 3822-3828). IEEE, 2021.
· Enhancing fluency and productivity in human-robot collaboration through online scaling of dynamic safety zones. The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 121(9-10), 6783-6798, 2022.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
In the manuscript, an overview of motion planning algorithms was introduced briefly. And in particular, the author focused on the discussion of the vital considerations required for efficiently assimilating robots into contexts demanding human-robot interaction, By combining certain examples of social and industrial environments. The thesis is novel and systematic, So I would recommend accept in present form.
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
The paper has been improved with respect to the previous version.
However, it is still not clear what is the methodology the authors used to collect and select the papers. Has a keyword search been performed? On which databases? What are the keywords used? How many papers were collected? How many papers are classified in the different categories? How are these papers distributed over the years?
No tables are reported to classify the surveyed papers, and highlight advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches and methods.
Only few images and figures are reported in the manuscript. It would be impossible for the reader to focus on the most important techniques without a graphical overview.
I suggest first to present the methodology and then the different cathegories of papers that have been defined.
The main scientific contributions are still not clear. Furthermore, it is not clear why the authors changed the title in "Motion Planning Techniques in the Context of Mobile Robotics: A Survey". Not all the aspects covered in the manuscript are strictly related to mobile robotics, but are more general. I suggest a broader title, which should be coherent with the content of the article.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 3
Reviewer 2 Report
The paper has been improved with respect to the previous version.
