Human-Robot Cooperation through Brain-Computer Interaction and Emulated Haptic Supports

The study presented in this paper is in the context of providing a telepresence platform for people with tetraplegia, who may be confined to their room or bed. The eventual aim is to provide these people with a system that allows them to remotely control a robot, which can act as a medium for him/her in their everyday life, e.g. by enabling interactions with friends and relatives who may be located in other rooms or even remote places and exploring different environments. In this paper, we deal with the specific challenge of cooperation between a robot and a human, who is only able to control the device using thoughts alone. The system is therefore composed of a brain computer interface (BC1) and a visual interface to implement an “emulated haptic shared control” of the robot. The aim is to share motion control between the human and the robot according to the difficulty of the situation. The control schema that exploits this “emulated haptic feedback” has been designed and evaluated using human-machine cooperation (HMC) and has been compared with more standard controls. We report on an initial experiment that has been conducted to test the feasibility of the approach. Preliminary results highlight the interest of the approach but also the challenges that remain to be overcome

Low-cost virtual presence platform for people with severe motor disability

[ES] Debido a la falta de autonomía y a la dificultad en las interacciones sociales, las personas con discapacidades físicas, generalmente sufren de una calidad de vida disminuida. El siguiente documento describe el desarrollo de una plataforma móvil de bajo costo capaz de asistir a las personas con severas discapacidades motoras en diferentes interacciones sociales. La plataforma requiere una base móvil inalámbrica; adaptando dos dispositivos, una cámara y un rastreador ocular; adicionalmente se requiere un software que permite integrar todos los componentes para elaborar una aplicación fácil de usar. Luego, para validar la operación de la plataforma se realizaron varias pruebas, usando una metodología de medición de usabilidad, con diferentes usuarios dentro de un cierto rango de edad, con y sin discapacidades. En consecuencia, como primera instancia de validación, la plataforma de bajo costo cumple con la función esperada para la asistencia de interacción social de personas con discapacidad. Finalmente, al ser un diseño abierto y verificado su funcionamiento, toda la información necesaria para la construcción del aparato es de libre acceso, a través de la página electrónica del proyecto.[EN] Due to a lack of autonomy and diculty in social interactions, people with physical disabilities generally suer from a diminished quality of life. The following document describes the development of a low-cost mobile platform capable of assisting people with severe motor disabilities on independent social interactions.Platform requires a wireless mobile base; adapting two interaction devices, a camera and an eye tracker; and developing a software to integrate all components for an easy-to-use application. Then, in order to validate the operation of the platform, several tests were carried out, using a usability measurement methodology, with different users within a certain age range, with and without disabilities. Consequently, as a first instance of validation, the low-cost platform fulfills the expected function of social interaction assistance for people with disabilities. Finally, as it is an open design and its functioning has been verified, all the necessary information for the construction of the device is freely accessible through the project’s electronic page.Este proyecto ha sido financiado por la Comisión Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONICYT) a través del proyecto Fondecyt 1110343 y el proyecto Concurso Centros de Investigación Interdisciplinaria VRI UC 2014.Flores-Calero, M.; Torres-Torriti, M.; Retamales-Ortega, F.; Rosas-Díaz, F. (2020). Plataforma de presencia virtual de bajo costo para personas con discapacidades motoras severas. 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