275 research outputs found
In-home and remote use of robotic body surrogates by people with profound motor deficits
By controlling robots comparable to the human body, people with profound
motor deficits could potentially perform a variety of physical tasks for
themselves, improving their quality of life. The extent to which this is
achievable has been unclear due to the lack of suitable interfaces by which to
control robotic body surrogates and a dearth of studies involving substantial
numbers of people with profound motor deficits. We developed a novel, web-based
augmented reality interface that enables people with profound motor deficits to
remotely control a PR2 mobile manipulator from Willow Garage, which is a
human-scale, wheeled robot with two arms. We then conducted two studies to
investigate the use of robotic body surrogates. In the first study, 15 novice
users with profound motor deficits from across the United States controlled a
PR2 in Atlanta, GA to perform a modified Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) and a
simulated self-care task. Participants achieved clinically meaningful
improvements on the ARAT and 12 of 15 participants (80%) successfully completed
the simulated self-care task. Participants agreed that the robotic system was
easy to use, was useful, and would provide a meaningful improvement in their
lives. In the second study, one expert user with profound motor deficits had
free use of a PR2 in his home for seven days. He performed a variety of
self-care and household tasks, and also used the robot in novel ways. Taking
both studies together, our results suggest that people with profound motor
deficits can improve their quality of life using robotic body surrogates, and
that they can gain benefit with only low-level robot autonomy and without
invasive interfaces. However, methods to reduce the rate of errors and increase
operational speed merit further investigation.Comment: 43 Pages, 13 Figure
Exploring AI-enhanced Shared Control for an Assistive Robotic Arm
Assistive technologies and in particular assistive robotic arms have the
potential to enable people with motor impairments to live a self-determined
life. More and more of these systems have become available for end users in
recent years, such as the Kinova Jaco robotic arm. However, they mostly require
complex manual control, which can overwhelm users. As a result, researchers
have explored ways to let such robots act autonomously. However, at least for
this specific group of users, such an approach has shown to be futile. Here,
users want to stay in control to achieve a higher level of personal autonomy,
to which an autonomous robot runs counter. In our research, we explore how
Artifical Intelligence (AI) can be integrated into a shared control paradigm.
In particular, we focus on the consequential requirements for the interface
between human and robot and how we can keep humans in the loop while still
significantly reducing the mental load and required motor skills.Comment: Workshop on Engineering Interactive Systems Embedding AI Technologies
(EIS-embedding-AI) at EICS'2
Assistive robotic device: evaluation of intelligent algorithms
Assistive robotic devices can be used to help people with upper body
disabilities gaining more autonomy in their daily life. Although basic motions
such as positioning and orienting an assistive robot gripper in space allow
performance of many tasks, it might be time consuming and tedious to perform
more complex tasks. To overcome these difficulties, improvements can be
implemented at different levels, such as mechanical design, control interfaces
and intelligent control algorithms. In order to guide the design of solutions,
it is important to assess the impact and potential of different innovations.
This paper thus presents the evaluation of three intelligent algorithms aiming
to improve the performance of the JACO robotic arm (Kinova Robotics). The
evaluated algorithms are 'preset position', 'fluidity filter' and 'drinking
mode'. The algorithm evaluation was performed with 14 motorized wheelchair's
users and showed a statistically significant improvement of the robot's
performance.Comment: 4 page
Kinova modular robot arms for service robotics applications
This article presents Kinova's modular robotic systems, including the robots JACO2 and MICO2, actuators and grippers. Kinova designs and manufactures robotics platforms and components that are simple, sexy and safe under two business units: Assistive Robotics empowers people living with disabilities to push beyond their current boundaries and limitations while Service Robotics empowers people in industry to interact with their environment more efficiently and safely. Kinova is based in Boisbriand, Québec, Canada. Its technologies are exploited in over 25 countries and are used in many applications, including as service robotics, physical assistance, medical applications, mobile manipulation, rehabilitation, teleoperation and in research in different areas such as computer vision, artificial intelligence, grasping, planning and control interfaces. The article describes Kinova's hardware platforms, their different control modes (position, velocity and torque), control features and possible control interfaces. Integration to other systems and application examples are also presented
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