Development of new intelligent autonomous robotic assistant for hospitals

Continuous technological development in modern societies has increased the quality of life and average life-span of people. This imposes an extra burden on the current healthcare infrastructure, which also creates the opportunity for developing new, autonomous, assistive robots to help alleviate this extra workload. The research question explored the extent to which a prototypical robotic platform can be created and how it may be implemented in a hospital environment with the aim to assist the hospital staff with daily tasks, such as guiding patients and visitors, following patients to ensure safety, and making deliveries to and from rooms and workstations. In terms of major contributions, this thesis outlines five domains of the development of an actual robotic assistant prototype. Firstly, a comprehensive schematic design is presented in which mechanical, electrical, motor control and kinematics solutions have been examined in detail. Next, a new method has been proposed for assessing the intrinsic properties of different flooring-types using machine learning to classify mechanical vibrations. Thirdly, the technical challenge of enabling the robot to simultaneously map and localise itself in a dynamic environment has been addressed, whereby leg detection is introduced to ensure that, whilst mapping, the robot is able to distinguish between people and the background. The fourth contribution is geometric collision prediction into stabilised dynamic navigation methods, thus optimising the navigation ability to update real-time path planning in a dynamic environment. Lastly, the problem of detecting gaze at long distances has been addressed by means of a new eye-tracking hardware solution which combines infra-red eye tracking and depth sensing. The research serves both to provide a template for the development of comprehensive mobile assistive-robot solutions, and to address some of the inherent challenges currently present in introducing autonomous assistive robots in hospital environments.Open Acces

Safe navigation and human-robot interaction in assistant robotic applications

L'abstract è presente nell'allegato / the abstract is in the attachmen

Occupational health and safety issues in human-robot collaboration: State of the art and open challenges

Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) refers to the interaction of workers and robots in a shared workspace. Owing to the integration of the industrial automation strengths with the inimitable cognitive capabilities of humans, HRC is paramount to move towards advanced and sustainable production systems. Although the overall safety of collaborative robotics has increased over time, further research efforts are needed to allow humans to operate alongside robots, with awareness and trust. Numerous safety concerns are open, and either new or enhanced technical, procedural and organizational measures have to be investigated to design and implement inherently safe and ergonomic automation solutions, aligning the systems performance and the human safety. Therefore, a bibliometric analysis and a literature review are carried out in the present paper to provide a comprehensive overview of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) issues in HRC. As a result, the most researched topics and application areas, and the possible future lines of research are identified. Reviewed articles stress the central role played by humans during collaboration, underlining the need to integrate the human factor in the hazard analysis and risk assessment. Human-centered design and cognitive engineering principles also require further investigations to increase the worker acceptance and trust during collaboration. Deepened studies are compulsory in the healthcare sector, to investigate the social and ethical implications of HRC. Whatever the application context is, the implementation of more and more advanced technologies is fundamental to overcome the current HRC safety concerns, designing low-risk HRC systems while ensuring the system productivity

Robotics 2010

Without a doubt, robotics has made an incredible progress over the last decades. The vision of developing, designing and creating technical systems that help humans to achieve hard and complex tasks, has intelligently led to an incredible variety of solutions. There are barely technical fields that could exhibit more interdisciplinary interconnections like robotics. This fact is generated by highly complex challenges imposed by robotic systems, especially the requirement on intelligent and autonomous operation. This book tries to give an insight into the evolutionary process that takes place in robotics. It provides articles covering a wide range of this exciting area. The progress of technical challenges and concepts may illuminate the relationship between developments that seem to be completely different at first sight. The robotics remains an exciting scientific and engineering field. The community looks optimistically ahead and also looks forward for the future challenges and new development

Adapting robot behavior to user preferences in assistive scenarios

Robotic assistants have inspired numerous books and science fiction movies. In the real world, these kinds of devices are a growing need in amongst the elderly, who while life continue requiring more assistance. While life expectancy is increasing, life quality is not necessarily doing so. Thus, we may find ourselves and our loved ones being dependent and needing another person to perform the most basic tasks, which has a strong psychological impact. Accordingly, assistive robots may be the definitive tool to give more quality of life by empowering dependent people and extending their independent living. Assisting users to perform daily activities requires adapting to them and their needs, as they might not be able to adapt to the robot. This thesis tackles adaptation and personalization issues through user preferences. We 'focus on physical tasks that involve close contact, as these present interesting challenges, and are of great importance for he user. Therefore, three tasks are mainly used throughout the thesis: assistive feeding, shoe fitting, and jacket dressing. We first describe a framework for robot behavior adaptation that illustrates how robots should be personalized for and by end- users or their assistants. Using this framework, non-technical users determine how !he robot should behave. Then, we define the concept of preference for assistive robotics scenarios and establish a taxonomy, which includes hierarchies and groups of preferences, grounding definitions and concepts. We then show how the preferences in the taxonomy are used with Al planning systems to adapt the robot behavior to the preferences of the user obtained from simple questions. Our algorithms allow for long-term adaptations as well as to cope with misinformed user models. We further integrate the methods with low-level motion primitives that provide a more robust adaptation and behavior while lowering the number of needed actions and demonstrations. Moreover, we perform a deeper analysis in Planning and preferences with the introduction of new algorithms to provide preference suggestions in planning domains. The thesis then concludes with a user study that evaluates the use of the preferences in the three real assistive robotics scenarios. The experiments show a clear understanding of the preferences of users, who were able to assess the impact of their preferences on the behavior of the robot. In summary, we provide tools and algorithms to design the robotic assistants of the future. Assistants that should be able to adapt to the assisted user needs and preferences, just as human assistants do nowadays.Els assistents robòtics han inspirat nombrosos llibres i pel·lícules de ciència-ficció al llarg de la història. Però tornant al món real, aquest tipus de dispositius s'estan tornant una necessitat per a una societat que envelleix a un ritme ràpid i que, per tant, requerirà més i més assistència. Mentre l'esperança de vida augmenta, la qualitat de vida no necessàriament ho fa. Per tant, ens podem trobar a nosaltres mateixos i als nostres estimats en una situació de dependència, necessitant una altra persona per poder fer les tasques més bàsiques, cosa que té un gran impacte psicològic. En conseqüència, els robots assistencials poden ser l'eina definitiva per proporcionar una millor qualitat de vida empoderant els usuaris i allargant la seva capacitat de viure independentment. L'assistència a persones per realitzar tasques diàries requereix adaptar-se a elles i les seves necessitats, donat que aquests usuaris no poden adaptar-se al robot. En aquesta tesi, abordem el problema de l'adaptació i la personalització d'un robot mitjançant preferències de l'usuari. Ens centrem en tasques físiques, que involucren contacte amb la persona, per les seves dificultats i importància per a l'usuari. Per aquest motiu, la tesi utilitzarà principalment tres tasques com a exemple: donar menjar, posar una sabata i vestir una jaqueta. Comencem definint un marc (framework) per a la personalització del comportament del robot que defineix com s'han de personalitzar els robots per usuaris i pels seus assistents. Amb aquest marc, usuaris sense coneixements tècnics són capaços de definir com s'ha de comportar el robot. Posteriorment definim el concepte de preferència per a robots assistencials i establim una taxonomia que inclou jerarquies i grups de preferències, els quals fonamenten les definicions i conceptes. Després mostrem com les preferències de la taxonomia s'utilitzen amb sistemes planificadors amb IA per adaptar el comportament del robot a les preferències de l'usuari, que s'obtenen mitjançant preguntes simples. Els nostres algorismes permeten l'adaptació a llarg termini, així com fer front a models d'usuari mal inferits. Aquests mètodes són integrats amb primitives a baix nivell que proporcionen una adaptació i comportament més robusts a la mateixa vegada que disminueixen el nombre d'accions i demostracions necessàries. També fem una anàlisi més profunda de l'ús de les preferències amb planificadors amb la introducció de nous algorismes per fer suggeriments de preferències en dominis de planificació. La tesi conclou amb un estudi amb usuaris que avalua l'ús de les preferències en les tres tasques assistencials. Els experiments demostren un clar enteniment de les preferències per part dels usuaris, que van ser capaços de discernir quan les seves preferències eren utilitzades. En resum, proporcionem eines i algorismes per dissenyar els assistents robòtics del futur. Uns assistents que haurien de ser capaços d'adaptar-se a les preferències i necessitats de l'usuari que assisteixen, tal com els assistents humans fan avui en dia

Adapting robot behavior to user preferences in assistive scenarios

Aplicat embargament des de la data de defensa fins el 24 de juliol de 2020Robotic assistants have inspired numerous books and science fiction movies. In the real world, these kinds of devices are a growing need in amongst the elderly, who while life continue requiring more assistance. While life expectancy is increasing, life quality is not necessarily doing so. Thus, we may find ourselves and our loved ones being dependent and needing another person to perform the most basic tasks, which has a strong psychological impact. Accordingly, assistive robots may be the definitive tool to give more quality of life by empowering dependent people and extending their independent living. Assisting users to perform daily activities requires adapting to them and their needs, as they might not be able to adapt to the robot. This thesis tackles adaptation and personalization issues through user preferences. We 'focus on physical tasks that involve close contact, as these present interesting challenges, and are of great importance for he user. Therefore, three tasks are mainly used throughout the thesis: assistive feeding, shoe fitting, and jacket dressing. We first describe a framework for robot behavior adaptation that illustrates how robots should be personalized for and by end- users or their assistants. Using this framework, non-technical users determine how !he robot should behave. Then, we define the concept of preference for assistive robotics scenarios and establish a taxonomy, which includes hierarchies and groups of preferences, grounding definitions and concepts. We then show how the preferences in the taxonomy are used with Al planning systems to adapt the robot behavior to the preferences of the user obtained from simple questions. Our algorithms allow for long-term adaptations as well as to cope with misinformed user models. We further integrate the methods with low-level motion primitives that provide a more robust adaptation and behavior while lowering the number of needed actions and demonstrations. Moreover, we perform a deeper analysis in Planning and preferences with the introduction of new algorithms to provide preference suggestions in planning domains. The thesis then concludes with a user study that evaluates the use of the preferences in the three real assistive robotics scenarios. The experiments show a clear understanding of the preferences of users, who were able to assess the impact of their preferences on the behavior of the robot. In summary, we provide tools and algorithms to design the robotic assistants of the future. Assistants that should be able to adapt to the assisted user needs and preferences, just as human assistants do nowadays.Els assistents robòtics han inspirat nombrosos llibres i pel·lícules de ciència-ficció al llarg de la història. Però tornant al món real, aquest tipus de dispositius s'estan tornant una necessitat per a una societat que envelleix a un ritme ràpid i que, per tant, requerirà més i més assistència. Mentre l'esperança de vida augmenta, la qualitat de vida no necessàriament ho fa. Per tant, ens podem trobar a nosaltres mateixos i als nostres estimats en una situació de dependència, necessitant una altra persona per poder fer les tasques més bàsiques, cosa que té un gran impacte psicològic. En conseqüència, els robots assistencials poden ser l'eina definitiva per proporcionar una millor qualitat de vida empoderant els usuaris i allargant la seva capacitat de viure independentment. L'assistència a persones per realitzar tasques diàries requereix adaptar-se a elles i les seves necessitats, donat que aquests usuaris no poden adaptar-se al robot. En aquesta tesi, abordem el problema de l'adaptació i la personalització d'un robot mitjançant preferències de l'usuari. Ens centrem en tasques físiques, que involucren contacte amb la persona, per les seves dificultats i importància per a l'usuari. Per aquest motiu, la tesi utilitzarà principalment tres tasques com a exemple: donar menjar, posar una sabata i vestir una jaqueta. Comencem definint un marc (framework) per a la personalització del comportament del robot que defineix com s'han de personalitzar els robots per usuaris i pels seus assistents. Amb aquest marc, usuaris sense coneixements tècnics són capaços de definir com s'ha de comportar el robot. Posteriorment definim el concepte de preferència per a robots assistencials i establim una taxonomia que inclou jerarquies i grups de preferències, els quals fonamenten les definicions i conceptes. Després mostrem com les preferències de la taxonomia s'utilitzen amb sistemes planificadors amb IA per adaptar el comportament del robot a les preferències de l'usuari, que s'obtenen mitjançant preguntes simples. Els nostres algorismes permeten l'adaptació a llarg termini, així com fer front a models d'usuari mal inferits. Aquests mètodes són integrats amb primitives a baix nivell que proporcionen una adaptació i comportament més robusts a la mateixa vegada que disminueixen el nombre d'accions i demostracions necessàries. També fem una anàlisi més profunda de l'ús de les preferències amb planificadors amb la introducció de nous algorismes per fer suggeriments de preferències en dominis de planificació. La tesi conclou amb un estudi amb usuaris que avalua l'ús de les preferències en les tres tasques assistencials. Els experiments demostren un clar enteniment de les preferències per part dels usuaris, que van ser capaços de discernir quan les seves preferències eren utilitzades. En resum, proporcionem eines i algorismes per dissenyar els assistents robòtics del futur. Uns assistents que haurien de ser capaços d'adaptar-se a les preferències i necessitats de l'usuari que assisteixen, tal com els assistents humans fan avui en dia.Postprint (published version

Information Technologies for Cognitive Decline

Information technology (IT) is used to establish a diagnosis and provide treatment for people with cognitive decline. The condition affects many before it becomes clear that more permanent changes, like dementia, could be noticed. Those who search for information are exposed to lots of information and different technologies which they need to make sense of and eventually use to help themselves. In this research literature and information available on the Internet were systematically analyzed to present methods used for diagnosis and treatment. Methods used for diagnosis are self-testing, sensors, Virtual Reality (VR), and brain imaging. Methods used for treatment are games, websites with information and media, Virtual Reality (VR), sensors, and robots. The resulting concept of knowledge was the basis of an artifact whose main goal was to present the facts to the broad public. This implied that a user-friendly artifact was developed through three iterations using the Design Science framework. A total of nine users and IT usability experts have evaluated the artifact returning the SUS score of 85,83 for users and 87,5 for IT usability experts. Nielsen´s heuristics were assessed by IT usability experts only, returning an average score of 4,28. The general response was positive regarding both the content and the attempt to present methods used in cognitive decline. It reminds to be seen how to bring this knowledge to those who are most affected by the decline.Masteroppgave i informasjonsvitenskapINFO390MASV-INF

Autonomous Robot Navigation through a Crowded and Dynamic Environment: Using A Novel form of Path Planning to Demonstrate Consideration towards Pedestrians and other Robots

This thesis presents a novel path planning algorithm for robotic crowd navigation through a pedestrian environment. The robot is designed to negotiate its way through the crowd using considerate movements. Unlike many other path planning algorithms, which assume cooperation with other pedestrians, this algorithm is completely independent and requires only observation. A considerate navigation strategy has been developed in this thesis, which utilises consideration as an directs an autonomous mobile robot. Using simple methods of predicting pedestrian movements, as well as simple relative distance and trajectory measurements between the robot and pedestrians, the robot can navigate through a crowd without causing disruption to pedestrian trajectories. Dynamic pedestrian positions are predicted using uncertainty ellipses. A novel Voronoi diagram-visibility graph hybrid roadmap is implemented so that the path planner can exploit any available gaps in between pedestrians, and plan considerate paths. The aim of the considerate path planner is to have the robot behave in specific ways when moving through the crowd. By predicting pedestrian trajectories, the robot can avoid interfering with them. Following preferences to move behind pedestrians, when cutting across their trajectories; to move in the same direction of the crowd when possible; and to slow down in crowded areas, will prevent any interference to individual pedestrians, as well as preventing an increase in congestion to the crowd as a whole. The effectiveness of the considerate navigation strategy is evaluated using simulated pedestrians, multiple mobile robots loaded with the path planning algorithm, as well as a real-life pedestrian dataset. The algorithm will highlight its ability to move with the aforementioned consideration towards each individual dynamic agent

The Impact of Digital Technologies on Public Health in Developed and Developing Countries

This open access book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 18th International Conference on String Processing and Information Retrieval, ICOST 2020, held in Hammamet, Tunisia, in June 2020.* The 17 full papers and 23 short papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 49 submissions. They cover topics such as: IoT and AI solutions for e-health; biomedical and health informatics; behavior and activity monitoring; behavior and activity monitoring; and wellbeing technology. *This conference was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Improving Access and Mental Health for Youth Through Virtual Models of Care

The overall objective of this research is to evaluate the use of a mobile health smartphone application (app) to improve the mental health of youth between the ages of 14–25 years, with symptoms of anxiety/depression. This project includes 115 youth who are accessing outpatient mental health services at one of three hospitals and two community agencies. The youth and care providers are using eHealth technology to enhance care. The technology uses mobile questionnaires to help promote self-assessment and track changes to support the plan of care. The technology also allows secure virtual treatment visits that youth can participate in through mobile devices. This longitudinal study uses participatory action research with mixed methods. The majority of participants identified themselves as Caucasian (66.9%). Expectedly, the demographics revealed that Anxiety Disorders and Mood Disorders were highly prevalent within the sample (71.9% and 67.5% respectively). Findings from the qualitative summary established that both staff and youth found the software and platform beneficial