Learning Rhythmic Trajectories With Geometric Constraints for Laser-Based Skincare Procedures

The increasing deployment of robots has significantly enhanced the automation levels across a wide and diverse range of industries. This article investigates the automation challenges of laser-based dermatology procedures in the beauty industry. This group of related manipulation tasks involves delivering energy from a cosmetic laser onto the skin with repetitive patterns. To automate this procedure, we propose to use a robotic manipulator and endow it with the dexterity of a skilled dermatology practitioner through a learning-from-demonstration framework. To ensure that the cosmetic laser can properly deliver the energy onto the skin surface of an individual, we develop a novel structured prediction-based imitation learning algorithm with the merit of handling geometric constraints. Notably, our proposed algorithm effectively tackles the imitation challenges associated with quasi-periodic motions, a common feature of many laser-based cosmetic tasks. The conducted real-world experiments illustrate the performance of our robotic beautician in mimicking realistic dermatological procedures. Our new method is shown to not only replicate the rhythmic movements from the provided demonstrations but also to adapt the acquired skills to previously unseen scenarios and subjects.