A visualisation and simulation framework for local and remote HRI experimentation

In this text, we will present work on the design and development of a ROS-based (Robot Operating System) remote 3D visualisation, control and simulation framework. This architecture has the purpose of extending the usability of a system devised in previous work by this research team during the CASIR (Coordinated Attention for Social Interaction with Robots) project. The proposed solution was implemented using ROS, and designed to attend the needs of two user groups – local and remote users and developers. The framework consists of: (1) a fully functional simulator integrated with the ROS environment, including a faithful representation of a robotic platform, a human model with animation capabilities and enough features for enacting human robot interaction scenarios, and a virtual experimental setup with similar features as the real laboratory workspace; (2) a fully functional and intuitive user interface for monitoring and development; (3) a remote robotic laboratory that can connect remote users to the framework via a web browser. The proposed solution was thoroughly and systematically tested under operational conditions, so as to assess its qualities in terms of features, ease-of-use and performance. Finally, conclusions concerning the success and potential of this research and development effort are drawn, and the foundations for future work will be proposed

Sensory Computing and Object Processing Entity: Assistive Robotics for Healthcare

Team SCOPE has created an assistive robot for healthcare delivery. The robot is mobile, responds to spoken commands, and possesses Artificial Intelligence (AI). It extracts meanings about the patient’s health from conversations and visual interactions. It summarizes these observations into reports that could be merged with the patient’s Electronic Health Records (EHRs). This process aids healthcare professionals in delivering better care by augmenting attendance, increasing accuracy of patient information collection, aiding in diagnosis, streamlining data collection, and automating the process of ingesting and incorporating this information into EHR systems. SCOPE’s solution uses cloud-based AI services along with local processing. Using VEX Robotics parts and an Arduino microcontroller, SCOPE created a mobile platform for the robot. The robotic platform implements basic motions and obstacle avoidance. These separate systems are integrated using a Java master program, Node-Red, and IBM Watson cloud services. The resulting AI can be expanded for different applications within healthcare delivery

Proceedings of the 1st Standardized Knowledge Representation and Ontologies for Robotics and Automation Workshop

Welcome to IEEE-ORA (Ontologies for Robotics and Automation) IROS workshop. This is the 1st edition of the workshop on! Standardized Knowledge Representation and Ontologies for Robotics and Automation. The IEEE-ORA 2014 workshop was held on the 18th September, 2014 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. In!the IEEE-ORA IROS workshop, 10 contributions were presented from 7 countries in North and South America, Asia and Europe. The presentations took place in the afternoon, from 1:30 PM to 5:00 PM. The first session was dedicated to “Standards for Knowledge Representation in Robotics”, where presentations were made from the IEEE working group standards for robotics and automation, and also from the ISO TC 184/SC2/WH7. The second session was dedicated to “Core and Application Ontologies”, where presentations were made for core robotics ontologies, and also for industrial and robot assisted surgery ontologies. Three posters were presented in emergent applications of ontologies in robotics. We would like to express our thanks to all participants. First of all to the authors, whose quality work is the essence of this workshop. Next, to all the members of the international program committee, who helped us with their expertise and valuable time. We would also like to deeply thank the IEEE-IROS 2014 organizers for hosting this workshop. Our deep gratitude goes to the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, that sponsors! the IEEE-ORA group activities, and also to the scientific organizations that kindly agreed to sponsor all the workshop authors work