Overcoming barriers and increasing independence: service robots for elderly and disabled people

This paper discusses the potential for service robots to overcome barriers and increase independence of elderly and disabled people. It includes a brief overview of the existing uses of service robots by disabled and elderly people and advances in technology which will make new uses possible and provides suggestions for some of these new applications. The paper also considers the design and other conditions to be met for user acceptance. It also discusses the complementarity of assistive service robots and personal assistance and considers the types of applications and users for which service robots are and are not suitable

Advances towards behaviour-based indoor robotic exploration

215 p.The main contributions of this research work remain in object recognition by computer vision, by one side, and in robot localisation and mapping by the other. The first contribution area of the research address object recognition in mobile robots. In this area, door handle recognition is of great importance, as it help the robot to identify doors in places where the camera is not able to view the whole door. In this research, a new two step algorithm is presented based on feature extraction that aimed at improving the extracted features to reduce the superfluous keypoints to be compared at the same time that it increased its efficiency by improving accuracy and reducing the computational time. Opposite to segmentation based paradigms, the feature extraction based two-step method can easily be generalized to other types of handles or even more, to other type of objects such as road signals. Experiments have shown very good accuracy when tested in real environments with different kind of door handles. With respect to the second contribution, a new technique to construct a topological map during the exploration phase a robot would perform on an unseen office-like environment is presented. Firstly a preliminary approach proposed to merge the Markovian localisation in a distributed system, which requires low storage and computational resources and is adequate to be applied in dynamic environments. In the same area, a second contribution to terrain inspection level behaviour based navigation concerned to the development of an automatic mapping method for acquiring the procedural topological map. The new approach is based on a typicality test called INCA to perform the so called loop-closing action. The method was integrated in a behaviour-based control architecture and tested in both, simulated and real robot/environment system. The developed system proved to be useful also for localisation purpose

Assistive technology design and development for acceptable robotics companions for ageing years

© 2013 Farshid Amirabdollahian et al., licensee Versita Sp. z o. o. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license, which means that the text may be used for non-commercial purposes, provided credit is given to the author.A new stream of research and development responds to changes in life expectancy across the world. It includes technologies which enhance well-being of individuals, specifically for older people. The ACCOMPANY project focuses on home companion technologies and issues surrounding technology development for assistive purposes. The project responds to some overlooked aspects of technology design, divided into multiple areas such as empathic and social human-robot interaction, robot learning and memory visualisation, and monitoring persons’ activities at home. To bring these aspects together, a dedicated task is identified to ensure technological integration of these multiple approaches on an existing robotic platform, Care-O-Bot®3 in the context of a smart-home environment utilising a multitude of sensor arrays. Formative and summative evaluation cycles are then used to assess the emerging prototype towards identifying acceptable behaviours and roles for the robot, for example role as a butler or a trainer, while also comparing user requirements to achieved progress. In a novel approach, the project considers ethical concerns and by highlighting principles such as autonomy, independence, enablement, safety and privacy, it embarks on providing a discussion medium where user views on these principles and the existing tension between some of these principles, for example tension between privacy and autonomy over safety, can be captured and considered in design cycles and throughout project developmentsPeer reviewe

Perception Framework for Activities of Daily Living Manipulation Tasks

There is an increasing concern in tackling the problems faced by the elderly community and physically in-locked people to lead an independent life experience problems with self- care. The need for developing service robots that can help people with mobility impairments is hence very essential. Developing a control framework for shared human-robot autonomy will allow locked-in individuals to perform the Activities of Daily Living (ADL) in a exible way. The relevant ADL scenarios were identi ed as handling objects, self-feeding, and opening doors for indoor nav- igation assistance. Multiple experiments were conducted, which demonstrates that the robot executes these daily living tasks reliably without requiring adjustment to the environment. The indoor manipulation tasks hold the challenge of dealing with a wide range of unknown objects. This thesis presents a framework developed for grasping without requiring a priori knowledge of the objects being manipulated. A successful manipulation task requires the combination of aspects such as envi- ronment modeling, object detection with pose estimation, grasp planning, motion planning followed by an e?cient grasp execution, which is validated by a 6+2 Degree of Freedom robotic manipulator

A hazard control system for robot manipulators

A robot for space applications will be required to complete a variety of tasks in an uncertain, harsh environment. This fact presents unusual and highly difficult challenges to ensuring the safety of astronauts and keeping the equipment they depend on from becoming damaged. The systematic approach being taken to control hazards that could result from introducing robotics technology in the space environment is described. First, system safety management and engineering principles, techniques, and requirements are discussed as they relate to Shuttle payload design and operation in general. The concepts of hazard, hazard category, and hazard control, as defined by the Shuttle payload safety requirements, is explained. Next, it is shown how these general safety management and engineering principles are being implemented on an actual project. An example is presented of a hazard control system for controlling one of the hazards identified for the Development Test Flight (DTF-1) of NASA's Flight Telerobotic Servicer, a teleoperated space robot. How these schemes can be applied to terrestrial robots is discussed as well. The same software monitoring and control approach will insure the safe operation of a slave manipulator under teleoperated or autonomous control in undersea, nuclear, or manufacturing applications where the manipulator is working in the vicinity of humans or critical hardware

A robot swarm assisting a human fire-fighter

Emergencies in industrial warehouses are a major concern for fire-fighters. The large dimensions, together with the development of dense smoke that drastically reduces visibility, represent major challenges. The GUARDIANS robot swarm is designed to assist fire-fighters in searching a large warehouse. In this paper we discuss the technology developed for a swarm of robots assisting fire-fighters. We explain the swarming algorithms that provide the functionality by which the robots react to and follow humans while no communication is required. Next we discuss the wireless communication system, which is a so-called mobile ad-hoc network. The communication network provides also the means to locate the robots and humans. Thus, the robot swarm is able to provide guidance information to the humans. Together with the fire-fighters we explored how the robot swarm should feed information back to the human fire-fighter. We have designed and experimented with interfaces for presenting swarm-based information to human beings

ChatGPT Empowered Long-Step Robot Control in Various Environments: A Case Application

This paper demonstrates how OpenAI's ChatGPT can be used in a few-shot setting to convert natural language instructions into an executable robot action sequence. The paper proposes easy-to-customize input prompts for ChatGPT that meet common requirements in practical applications, such as easy integration with robot execution systems and applicability to various environments while minimizing the impact of ChatGPT's token limit. The prompts encourage ChatGPT to output a sequence of predefined robot actions, represent the operating environment in a formalized style, and infer the updated state of the operating environment. Experiments confirmed that the proposed prompts enable ChatGPT to act according to requirements in various environments, and users can adjust ChatGPT's output with natural language feedback for safe and robust operation. The proposed prompts and source code are open-source and publicly available at https://github.com/microsoft/ChatGPT-Robot-Manipulation-PromptsComment: 17 figures. Last updated April 11th, 202

Design of the fingers of a soft-rigid robotic gripper adaptable for pinching and vacuum grasping

El projecte es centrarà en el disseny d'una pinça robòtica de dos dits que combini totes dues tecnologies de subjecció, la succió i el pinçament (“pinching”), per a convertir-se en un robot versàtil capaç de treballar amb objectes de formes variades. La pinça estarà equipada per a incloure succió al llarg dels dits. A més, els dits estaran dissenyats de manera que permetin col·locar les ventoses per a diferents tipus de subjecció i, com a pinçament, succió horitzontal i vertical, tant en superfícies planes com corbes. En primer lloc, es realitza un estudi de mercat basat en les solucions existents i els objectes que es desitja agafar per a trobar les millors especificacions. Posteriorment, s'aplica una primera aproximació matemàtica per a tractar de trobar una pinça que realitzi la trajectòria desitjada basada en un únic mecanisme de barres. De l’estudi, s'extreuen algunes conclusions i es decideix fer un canvi d'estratègia. Finalment, es dissenya un prototip basat en mecanismes independents i es dimensiona mitjançant un mètode gràfic. Es mostren els seus resultats, es crea un prototip en 3D i es presenten les conclusionsEl proyecto se centrará en el diseño de una pinza robótica de dos dedos que combine ambas tecnologías de agarre, succión y pinzamiento, para convertirse en un robot versátil capaz de trabajar con objetos de formas variadas. La pinza estará equipada para incluir succión a lo largo de los dedos. Además, los dedos estarán diseñados de forma que permitan colocar las ventosas para distintos tipos de agarre, como pellizcos, succión horizontal y vertical, tanto en superficies planas como curvas. En primer lugar, se realiza un estudio de mercado basado en las soluciones existentes y los objetos que se desea agarrar para encontrar las mejores especificaciones. Posteriormente, se aplica una primera aproximación matemática para tratar de encontrar una pinza capaz de realizar la trayectoria deseada basada en un solo mecanismo de barras. Del estudio, se extraen algunas conclusiones y se decide hacer un cambio de estrategia. Por último, se diseña un prototipo basado en mecanismos independientes y se dimensiona mediante un método gráfico. Se muestran sus resultados, se crea un prototipo en 3D y se presentan las conclusionesThe project will focus on the design of a two-finger robotic gripper that combines both technologies of grasping suction and pinching to become a versatile robot capable of working with varied shape objects. The gripper will be equipped for including suction along the fingers. Also, the fingers will be engineered such that they allow the positioning of the suctioning cups for different types of grasping, including pinching, horizontal and vertical suction, for flat as well as curved surfaces. Firstly, a market study based on existing solutions and desired objects to grasp are done to find the best specifications. Later, a first mathematical approach is applied to try to find a one linkage mechanism that performs the wanted trajectory. From the study, some conclusions are drawn and a change of strategy is decided. Finally, a prototype based on independent mechanisms is designed and dimensioned by a graphical method. Their results are shown, a 3D prototype is created and conclusions are presente

The Useworthiness of Robots for People with Physical Disabilities

This thesis deals with robotics and the new possibilities it offers people with physical disabilities. I focus on the user and the use of the technology and, in particular, on what makes robotic aids worth using - useworthiness as distinguished from usability. User experience of the wheelchair-mounted Manus manipulator shows that robotic arms must meet technical requirements in terms of acceleration, speed, and pattern of movement. Easy horizontal and vertical adjustment of the end-effector is another requirement which must be met to enable a user to carry out the most common movements faster with less concentration. Experience of the useworthiness of robots was first obtained through the development of page-turning end-effectors for the RAID workstation. The principles of separating pages and the page-turning movements are analyzed and described in this thesis. End-effectors are essential to the functionality and useworthiness of robots. The performance requirements for the automatic grasping function for simplified robot use have been brought out through user trials. The thesis demonstrates that user trials with robots as assistive devices can result in new knowledge about both the use of the technology itself and the personal characteristics - needs, abilities, wishes, and dreams - of the user. Parts of the thesis have already been published or will be published in the form of articles and conference papers: - Robotics in rehabilitation. IEEE Transactions on Rehabilitation Engineering, vol. 3, no 1, pp. 77-83, March 1995. - The Manus Manipulator as a Tool for Rehabilitation. To be published in the Scandinavian Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine. - Technical results from Manus user trials. Proceedings of the sixth International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR), pp. 136-141, Stanford, California, USA, July 1999. - Robot control methods and results from user trials on the RAID workstation. Proceedings of the fourth International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR), pp. 97-101, Wilmington, Delaware, USA, June 1994. - RAID - A Robotic Workstation for the Disabled. Proceedings of the 2nd European Conference on the Advancement of Rehabilitation Technology (ECART 2), pp. 24.3, Stockholm, Sweden, May 1993