Multisensory wearable interface for immersion and telepresence in robotics

The idea of being present in a remote location has inspired researchers to develop robotic devices that make humans to experience the feeling of telepresence. These devices need of multiple sensory feedback to provide a more realistic telepresence experience. In this work, we develop a wearable interface for immersion and telepresence that provides to human with the capability of both to receive multisensory feedback from vision, touch and audio and to remotely control a robot platform. Multimodal feedback from a remote environment is based on the integration of sensor technologies coupled to the sensory system of the robot platform. Remote control of the robot is achieved by a modularised architecture, which allows to visually explore the remote environment. We validated our work with multiple experiments where participants, located at different venues, were able to successfully control the robot platform while visually exploring, touching and listening a remote environment. In our experiments we used two different robotic platforms: the iCub humanoid robot and the Pioneer LX mobile robot. These experiments show that our wearable interface is comfortable, easy to use and adaptable to different robotic platforms. Furthermore, we observed that our approach allows humans to experience a vivid feeling of being present in a remote environment

Bir Servis Robotu Olarak Telepresence (Uzabulunum) Robotlar

Yirmi birinci yüz yılın sanayi devrimi olan Endüstri 4.0, makineleşme ve dijitalleşme sürecinde tüm bileşenleriyle insan unsurunun en aza indirgenerek üretim süreçlerinde maksimum verimin sağlanması prensibine dayanan bir yaklaşımdır. Dijital çağa uyum sağlayabilmek adına birçok bileşeninin ayı anda ya da farklı farklı zaman dilimlerinde üretim süreçlerine uyarlanarak maliyet optimizasyonunun sağlanması hedeflenmiştir. Endüstri 4.0 kapsamında üretim süreçlerine birden fazla donanım ve ileri düzeyde yazılımlarla donatılmış, yapay zekâ tabanıyla insan davranışlarını taklit edebilme, hareket başlatabilme kabiliyetlerine sahip ve bilgisayarlar aracılığıyla kontrol edilebilen robot sistemleri dahil edilmiştir. Kullanıcıları zaman ve mekân kısıtından uzaklaştırarak, bir tablet ya da bilgisayar ekranı ve standı ile uzaktan kontrole imkân veren, farklı bir konumda olabilme ve bu konum içerisinde faaliyet gösterimine imkân veren telepresence robotlar ise bu elektromekanik sistemin bir alt başlığı olarak kullanılmaya başlanmıştır. Sağlık, konaklama, inşaat, tarım sektörlerine yönelik profesyonel robotlar geliştirilip, üretilip-satılmaktadır. Telepresence robotlar da sunduğu imkanlarla çeşitli alanlarda kullanılmaya başlanmıştır. Bu çalışmada da çok yeni bir kavram olan ve literatürde çok az değinilen telepresence robotların tanımına, çalışma prensibine ve genel olarak kullanım alanlarına değinilmiştir

EVALUATION OF HAPTIC FEEDBACK METHODS FOR TELEOPERATED EXPLOSIVE ORDNANCE DISPOSAL ROBOTS

This thesis reports on the effects of sensory substitution methods for force feedback during teleoperation of robotic systems used for Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD). Existing EOD robotic systems do not feature any type of haptic feedback. It is currently unknown what benefits could by gained by supplying this information to the operator. In order to assess the benefits of additional feedback, a robotic gripper was procured and instrumented in order to display the forces applied by the end effector to an object. In a contact-based event detection task, users were asked to slowly grasp an object as lightly as possible and stop when a grasp was achieved. The users were supplied with video feedback of the gripper and either (1) no haptic feedback, (2) surrogate visual feedback, or (3) surrogate vibrotactile feedback. The force information came exclusively from the current being used to drive the gripper. Peak grasp forces were measured and compared across conditions. The improvements gained from vibrotactile over no haptic feedback feedback were statistically significant and reduced the threshold at which event detection took place from an average of 8.43 N to an average of 5.97 N. Qualitative information from the users showed a significant preference for this type of feedback. Vibrotactile feedback was shown to be very useful, while surrogate visual force feedback was not found to be helpful quantitatively nor was it preferred by the users. This feedback information would be inexpensive to implement and could be easily added to existing systems, thereby improving their capabilities to the EOD technician

Using Virtual Environments to Visualize Atmospheric Data: Can It Improve a Meteorologist\u27S Potential to Analyze the Information?

Conventional analysis of atmospheric data includes three-dimensional desktop-computer displays. One disadvantage is that it can reduce the ability to zoom in and see small-scale features while concurrently viewing other faraway features. This research intends to determine if using virtual environments to examine atmospheric data can improve a meteorologist\u27s ability to analyze the given information. In addition to possibly enhancing small-scale analysis, virtual environments technology offers an array of possible improvements. Presented is the theory on developing an experiment to establish the extent to which virtual environments assist meteorologists in analysis. Following is the details of an implementation of such an experiment. Based on the quantitative results obtained, the conclusion is that immersion can significantly increase the accuracy of a meteorologist\u27s analysis of an atmospheric data set

A Sensing Platform to Monitor Sleep Efficiency

Sleep plays a fundamental role in the human life. Sleep research is mainly focused on the understanding of the sleep patterns, stages and duration. An accurate sleep monitoring can detect early signs of sleep deprivation and insomnia consequentially implementing mechanisms for preventing and overcoming these problems. Recently, sleep monitoring has been achieved using wearable technologies, able to analyse also the body movements, but old people can encounter some difficulties in using and maintaining these devices. In this paper, we propose an unobtrusive sensing platform able to analyze body movements, infer sleep duration and awakenings occurred along the night, and evaluating the sleep efficiency index. To prove the feasibility of the suggested method we did a pilot trial in which several healthy users have been involved. The sensors were installed within the bed and, on each day, each user was administered with the Groningen Sleep Quality Scale questionnaire to evaluate the user’s perceived sleep quality. Finally, we show potential correlation between a perceived evaluation with an objective index as the sleep efficiency.</p

Flexible robotic control via co-operation between an operator and an ai-based control system

This thesis addresses the problem of variable autonomy in teleoperated mobile robots. Variable autonomy refers to the approach of incorporating several different levels of autonomous capabilities (Level(s) of Autonomy (LOA)) ranging from pure teleoperation (human has complete control of the robot) to full autonomy (robot has control of every capability), within a single robot. Most robots used for demanding and safety critical tasks (e.g. search and rescue, hazardous environments inspection), are currently teleoperated in simple ways, but could soon start to benefit from variable autonomy. The use of variable autonomy would allow Artificial Intelligence (AI) control algorithms to autonomously take control of certain functions when the human operator is suffering a high workload, high cognitive load, anxiety, or other distractions and stresses. In contrast, some circumstances may still necessitate direct human control of the robot. More specifically, this thesis is focused on investigating the issues of dynamically changing LOA (i.e. during task execution) using either Human-Initiative (HI) orMixed-Initiative (MI) control. MI refers to the peer-to-peer relationship between the robot and the operator in terms of the authority to initiate actions and LOA switches. HI refers to the human operators switching LOA based on their judgment, with the robot having no capacity to initiate LOA switches. A HI and a novel expert-guided MI controller are presented in this thesis. These controllers were evaluated using a multidisciplinary systematic experimental framework, that combines quantifiable and repeatable performance degradation factors for both the robot and the operator. The thesis presents statistically validated evidence that variable autonomy, in the form of HI and MI, provides advantages compared to only using teleoperation or only using autonomy, in various scenarios. Lastly, analyses of the interactions between the operators and the variable autonomy systems are reported. These analyses highlight the importance of personality traits and preferences, trust in the system, and the understanding of the system by the human operator, in the context of HRI with the proposed controllers

Vitae, Vix Humane, The Resonance Of Machine Intelligence: Implications For Now And Into The Future For The World Of The Orthodox Human

As technology has made its way into our hearts and homes, we’ve developed an insurmountable dependency on its effectiveness. Through technology, we can come far closer to our perceived effectiveness, whatever that may be, than with our human spectrum-- riddled with mistakes and errant processes. When electricity came into our world, it enabled globalization and triggered an inventive revolution far quicker than anything seen before in human history (citi.io). This was first a phenomenon, followed by a reluctantly accepted truth, and now an expectation to adhere to the new changes of a technologically advanced society. With the presence of the internet, we have created something that had never existed before-- measurable, interconnected online data, and the new trigger to the technological revolution: Artificial Intelligence (A.I). The impact of A.I for the average, societally developed nation is expected to be immense, and just like electricity, a complete change of basic life expectation. This thesis will review the current developing state of A.I (which may be much farther on its way than suspected by the majority of the public) and just how immersed in human life it is going to be. Intelligence can be implemented just about everywhere and it certainly will be in our developmental timeline. Installations of A.I will be around us, among us and within us, and the original separators from human intelligence may not be as vast an idea as originally thought, even on paper. The term and title of this work, Vitae, Vix Humane means in Latin, “Live, Scarcely Human,” encompasses what most of the ongoing Machine Learning Projects intend to make us do in the imminent future

The Sixth Annual Workshop on Space Operations Applications and Research (SOAR 1992)

This document contains papers presented at the Space Operations, Applications, and Research Symposium (SOAR) hosted by the U.S. Air Force (USAF) on 4-6 Aug. 1992 and held at the JSC Gilruth Recreation Center. The symposium was cosponsored by the Air Force Material Command and by NASA/JSC. Key technical areas covered during the symposium were robotic and telepresence, automation and intelligent systems, human factors, life sciences, and space maintenance and servicing. The SOAR differed from most other conferences in that it was concerned with Government-sponsored research and development relevant to aerospace operations. The symposium's proceedings include papers covering various disciplines presented by experts from NASA, the USAF, universities, and industry

Dynamic virtual reality user interface for teleoperation of heterogeneous robot teams

This research investigates the possibility to improve current teleoperation control for heterogeneous robot teams using modern Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) techniques such as Virtual Reality. It proposes a dynamic teleoperation Virtual Reality User Interface (VRUI) framework to improve the current approach to teleoperating heterogeneous robot teams

Second Annual Workshop on Space Operations Automation and Robotics (SOAR 1988)

Papers presented at the Second Annual Workshop on Space Operation Automation and Robotics (SOAR '88), hosted by Wright State University at Dayton, Ohio, on July 20, 21, 22, and 23, 1988, are documented herein. During the 4 days, approximately 100 technical papers were presented by experts from NASA, the USAF, universities, and technical companies. Panel discussions on Human Factors, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Space Systems were held but are not documented herein. Technical topics addressed included knowledge-based systems, human factors, and robotics