Human-Robot Interaction in GenAI Architectures via the Agent-Client Protocol

2026-07-16

AI Summary

This work addresses the lack of standardized interfaces in current human-robot interaction (HRI) layers, which rely on proprietary protocols and hinder real-time human-in-the-loop collaboration. To overcome this limitation, the authors propose a three-layer decoupled architecture that leverages the Agent-Client Protocol (ACP) and Model Context Protocol (MCP) to separate interaction, decision-making, and execution. Notably, this is the first integration of ACP into the HRI layer of robotic systems, achieving full decoupling between interfaces and underlying platforms. The proposed architecture enables interoperability among multiple heterogeneous user interfaces and supports native real-time collaboration. Experimental validation on a physical mobile robot demonstrates seamless coordination across three distinct interfaces with negligible added latency, significantly enhancing the standardization and flexibility of human-robot collaborative systems.

Abstract

Recent advances in Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), particularly Large Language Models (LLMs), are driving robotic architectures toward agent-based high-level orchestration, in which natural-language instructions can be translated into context-aware action sequences. While the integration of these agents and robotic capabilities is increasingly converging toward standardization through the Model Context Protocol (MCP), the upper Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) layer remains fragmented by proprietary, ad hoc interfaces that hinder real-time human-in-the-loop collaboration. To address this fragmentation, this paper proposes the adoption of the Agent-Client Protocol (ACP) -- a communication standard originally introduced for coding agents in software engineering -- as a unified communication contract for the HRI layer in agent-based robotic systems. By combining ACP at the interface-agent link and MCP at the agent-execution link, we formulate a fully decoupled three-layer architecture that separates human interaction, deliberative orchestration, and physical execution. This topology removes rigid architectural dependencies, enabling heterogeneous user interfaces to connect to the same robotic system and allowing the underlying robotic platform to be replaced without requiring client-specific integration changes. Moreover, it provides native support for collaborative HRI capabilities such as real-time observability, explicit human authorization, and immediate task interruption. We experimentally evaluate the proposed architecture on a physical mobile robot, demonstrating interoperability across three heterogeneous user interfaces and validating real-time human-in-the-loop workflows with negligible latency overhead.

Problem

• Human-Robot Interaction
• Generative AI
• Agent-Client Protocol
• Standardization
• Real-time Collaboration

Innovation

• Agent-Client Protocol
• Human-Robot Interaction
• Generative AI
• Decoupled Architecture
• Real-time Collaboration