Context-Continuous Preference Learning for Exoskeleton Personalization

2026-09-23

AI Summary

研究通过提出Context-Continuous Preference Learning (CCPL)方法，利用高斯过程模型在有限反馈条件下优化外骨骼个性化设置，提高了用户偏好学习效率。

Abstract

Personalizing exoskeleton assistance across operating conditions is constrained by the time and physical effort required to collect user feedback. We examined whether a user's preference landscape varies smoothly across operating conditions and when this continuity supports learning from limited feedback. We propose Context-Continuous Preference Learning (CCPL), a Gaussian-process preference model that shares observations across nearby contexts while retaining context-specific utility estimates. We evaluated CCPL through simulations and retrospective analyses of ankle and elbow exoskeleton preference data from nine healthy adults. In simulations, CCPL improved reconstruction and preference-based Bayesian optimization relative to independent learning when preferences varied smoothly, but showed negative transfer when continuity was weak. In both human studies, full-data reference landscapes estimated separately for each participant and context tended to be more similar between nearby operating conditions. With five exposures per context, CCPL increased mean reconstruction correlation with these references from 0.644 to 0.720 for ankle assistance and from 0.476 to 0.526 for elbow assistance relative to independent learning. The five-exposure budget was approximately 37% lower for ankle and 17% lower for elbow than the estimated independent-learning budgets needed to match these correlations. CCPL also improved held-out response prediction relative to independent learning, while benefits over pooled learning varied. These findings support context continuity as a basis for sharing preference observations under limited feedback, although benefits for online personalization in humans remain to be established.

Problem

• Exoskeleton Personalization
• User Feedback
• Operating Conditions
• Preference Learning
• Limited Feedback

Innovation

• Context-Continuous Preference Learning
• Gaussian-process preference model
• personalized exoskeleton assistance
• limited feedback
• smooth preference variation