Chapter User Experience Results of Setting Free a Service Robot for Older Adults at Home

The chapter presents the analysis of user trials where, for the first time, a service robot was set free in the home of users. Different to previous studies there was no pre-specified schedule of tasks to execute. The goal was to show that useful functionalities for users can also be achieved with the low-cost components of the Hobbit robot. With the one-arm mobile service robot Hobbit we provided users with a service robot running basic robot functionalities such as navigation, grasping objects from the floor, emergency handling, entertainment, fitness and communication functions. Users could freely select what to do over the three-week trials in homes in three European countries. Users have been questioned on what functionality would help them to stay longer at home and live independently. Results provide better insights of what users want than in pre-set scenarios, where many of the factors we encountered do not show up. Good examples are the need to have robots navigate autonomously at home, grasping objects from the floor is a highly valued function, and the robot needs to adapt locations depending on the daily liking of the users who move much more freely at home than in pre-set scenarios

Natural multimodal human robot interaction performed on a low cost robot head

Zsfassung in dt. SpracheIm Rahmen dieser Diplomarbeit wurde untersucht, welche Möglichkeiten für eine multimodale Mensch-Roboter-Interaktion mit aktueller Technologie bestehen. Dazu wurde ein bestehender Low-Cost Roboterkopf, genannt Eva, genutzt und ein Softwaresystem entwickelt welches State of the Art Algorithmen der Bereiche Spracherkennung, Personendetektion, Personenidentifikation und Objektklassifizierung integriert. Besondere Aufmerksamkeit galt der möglichst natürlichen Kommunikation zwischen Eva und den Anwendern. Dafür wurde auf die Möglichkeit eingegangen Spracherkennungssoftware der aktuellen Generation für die Kommunikation zu nutzen. Mehrere Systeme wurden dafür implementiert und deren Fähigkeiten evaluiert bevor sie im Gesamtsystem zum Einsatz kamen. Zum Auffinden und Identifizieren der Anwender wurden gängige Verfahren gegenüber gestellt. Dazu zählen Viola-Jones in zwei unterschiedlichen Varianten zur Gesichtsdetektion sowie Eigenfaces, Fisherfaces und Local Binary Pattern Histogramme zur Personenidentifizierung. Diese Methoden, sowie die Nachverfolgung von Gesichtern mit Hilfe eines Kalman Filter und eines Lucas-Kanade Trackers dienen der multimodalen Kommunikation mit den Anwendern. Außerdem wird ein System zur Klassifizierung von Objekten unter Verwendung von random decision forests erläutert, welcher in weiteren Folgen genutzt werden könnte um mit diesen Gegenständen sinnvoll zu interagieren.Within the scope of this diploma thesis we investigated the possibilities of mulitmodal human robot interaction with current technologies. For this, a pre-built low-cost robot head, called Eva, has been used and a software system was developed which includes state of the art algorithms from the fields of speech recognition, face detection, face recognition and object classification. Special attention was given to provide natural communication between users and the robot by using current speech recognition technology. Multiple systems were evaluated after integrating them in our implementation, before using one of them in our complete set-up. For the ability to find and identify individual people known algorithms were implemented and compared to each other. These include two variations of the Viola-Jones algorithm for face detection as well as Eigenfaces, Fisherfaces and Local Binary Pattern histograms for face recognition. These, in combination with face tracking by coupling the Viola-Jones algorithm with either a Kalman filter or a Lucas-Kanade optical flow estimation, provide one more part of the multimodal interaction between Eva and the user. Object classification provides the robot with the ability to perform further analysis in the field of interaction with objects. One method for this, using random decision forests, is explained as well.6

Grasping Objects From the Floor in Assistive Robotics: Real World Implications and Lessons Learned

This paper presents a system enabling a mobile robot to autonomously pick-up objects a human is pointing at from the oor. The system does not require object models and is designed to grasp unknown objects. The robot decides by itself if an object is suitable for grasping by considering measures of size, position and the environment suitability. The implementation is built on the second prototype of the home care robot Hobbit, thereby verifying that complex robotic manipulation tasks can be performed with economical hardware. The presented system was already tested in real apartments with elderly people. We highlight this by discussing the additional complexity for complete autonomous behavior in apartments compared with tests in labs.This work was supported in part by the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant 288146, HOBBIT, in part by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through the project COGDRIVE - Arti cial Intelligence Techniques and Assistance to Autonomous Navigation under Grant DPI2017-86915-C3-3-R, in part by the RoboCity2030-DIH-CM, Madrid Robotics Digital Innovation Hub, under Grant S2018/NMT-4331, in part by the Programas de Actividades ICD en la Comunidad de Madrid, and in part by the Structural Funds of the EU.Peer reviewe

Chapter User Experience Results of Setting Free a Service Robot for Older Adults at Home

The chapter presents the analysis of user trials where, for the first time, a service robot was set free in the home of users. Different to previous studies there was no pre-specified schedule of tasks to execute. The goal was to show that useful functionalities for users can also be achieved with the low-cost components of the Hobbit robot. With the one-arm mobile service robot Hobbit we provided users with a service robot running basic robot functionalities such as navigation, grasping objects from the floor, emergency handling, entertainment, fitness and communication functions. Users could freely select what to do over the three-week trials in homes in three European countries. Users have been questioned on what functionality would help them to stay longer at home and live independently. Results provide better insights of what users want than in pre-set scenarios, where many of the factors we encountered do not show up. Good examples are the need to have robots navigate autonomously at home, grasping objects from the floor is a highly valued function, and the robot needs to adapt locations depending on the daily liking of the users who move much more freely at home than in pre-set scenarios

Robot Navigation in Domestic Environments: Experiences Using RGB-D Sensors in Real Homes

Future home and service robots will require advanced navigation and interaction capabilities. In particular, domestic environments present open challenges that are hard to identify by conducting controlled tests in home-like settings: there is the need to test and evaluate navigation in the actual homes of users. This paper presents the experiences of operating a mobile robot with manipulation capabilities and an open set of tasks in extensive trials with real users, in their own homes. The main difficulties encountered are the requirement to move safely in cluttered 3D environments, the problems related to navigation in narrow spaces, and the need for an adaptive rather than fixed way to approach the users. We describe our solutions based on RGB-D perception and evaluate the integrated system for navigation in real home environments, pointing out remaining challenges towards more advanced commercial solutions.This work has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement No 288146.Peer reviewe

Results of Field Trials with a Mobile Service Robot for Older Adults in 16 Private Households

In this article, we present results obtained from field trials with the Hobbit robotic platform, an assistive, social service robot aiming at enabling prolonged independent living of older adults in their own homes. Our main contribution lies within the detailed results on perceived safety, usability, and acceptance from field trials with autonomous robots in real homes of older users. In these field trials, we studied how 16 older adults (75 plus) lived with autonomously interacting service robots over multiple week