Design method for an anthropomorphic hand able to gesture and grasp

This paper presents a numerical method to conceive and design the kinematic model of an anthropomorphic robotic hand used for gesturing and grasping. In literature, there are few numerical methods for the finger placement of human-inspired robotic hands. In particular, there are no numerical methods, for the thumb placement, that aim to improve the hand dexterity and grasping capabilities by keeping the hand design close to the human one. While existing models are usually the result of successive parameter adjustments, the proposed method determines the fingers placements by mean of empirical tests. Moreover, a surgery test and the workspace analysis of the whole hand are used to find the best thumb position and orientation according to the hand kinematics and structure. The result is validated through simulation where it is checked that the hand looks well balanced and that it meets our constraints and needs. The presented method provides a numerical tool which allows the easy computation of finger and thumb geometries and base placements for a human-like dexterous robotic hand.Comment: IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, May 2015, Seattle, United States. IEEE, 2015, Proceeding IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automatio

When Children Teach a Robot to Write: An Autonomous Teachable Humanoid Which Uses Simulated Handwriting

This article presents a novel robotic partner which children can teach handwriting. The system relies on the learning by teaching paradigm to build an interaction, so as to stimulate meta-cognition, empathy and increased self-esteem in the child user. We hypothesise that use of a humanoid robot in such a system could not just engage an unmotivated student, but could also present the opportunity for children to experience physically-induced benefits encountered during human-led handwriting interventions, such as motor mimicry. By leveraging simulated handwriting on a synchronised tablet display, a nao humanoid robot with limited fine motor capabilities has been configured as a suitably embodied handwriting partner. Statistical shape models derived from principal component analysis of a dataset of adult-written letter trajectories allow the robot to draw purposefully deformed letters. By incorporating feedback from user demonstrations, the system is then able to learn the optimal parameters for the appropriate shape models. Preliminary in situ studies have been conducted with primary school classes to obtain insight into children’s use of the novel system. Children aged 6-8 successfully engaged with the robot and improved its writing to a level which they were satisfied with. The validation of the interaction represents a significant step towards an innovative use for robotics which addresses a widespread and socially meaningful challenge in education

Iconic gestures for robot avatars, recognition and integration with speech

© 2016 Bremner and Leonards. Co-verbal gestures are an important part of human communication, improving its efficiency and efficacy for information conveyance. One possible means by which such multi-modal communication might be realized remotely is through the use of a tele-operated humanoid robot avatar. Such avatars have been previously shown to enhance social presence and operator salience. We present a motion tracking based tele-operation system for the NAO robot platform that allows direct transmission of speech and gestures produced by the operator. To assess the capabilities of this system for transmitting multi-modal communication, we have conducted a user study that investigated if robot-produced iconic gestures are comprehensible, and are integrated with speech. Robot performed gesture outcomes were compared directly to those for gestures produced by a human actor, using a within participant experimental design. We show that iconic gestures produced by a tele-operated robot are understood by participants when presented alone, almost as well as when produced by a human. More importantly, we show that gestures are integrated with speech when presented as part of a multi-modal communication equally well for human and robot performances

Are future psychologists willing to accept and use a humanoid robot in their practice? Italian and English students' perspective.

Despite general scepticism from care professionals, social robotics research is providing evidence of successful application in education and rehabilitation in clinical psychology practice. In this article, we investigate the cultural influences of English and Italian psychology students in the perception of usefulness and intention to use a robot as an instrument for future clinical practice and, secondly, the modality of presentation of the robot by comparing oral versus video presentation. To this end, we surveyed 158 Italian and British-English psychology students after an interactive demonstration using a humanoid robot to evaluate the social robot’s acceptance and use. The Italians were positive, while the English were negative towards the perceived usefulness and intention to use the robot in psychological practice in the near future. However, most English and Italian respondents felt they did not have the necessary abilities to make good use of the robot. We concluded that it is necessary to provide psychology students with further knowledge and practical skills regarding social robotics, which could facilitate the adoption and use of this technology in clinical settings

Legged Robots

International audienc

Audio-Motor Integration for Robot Audition

International audienceIn the context of robotics, audio signal processing in the wild amounts to dealing with sounds recorded by a system that moves and whose actuators produce noise. This creates additional challenges in sound source localization, signal enhancement and recognition. But the speci-ficity of such platforms also brings interesting opportunities: can information about the robot actuators' states be meaningfully integrated in the audio processing pipeline to improve performance and efficiency? While robot audition grew to become an established field, methods that explicitly use motor-state information as a complementary modality to audio are scarcer. This chapter proposes a unified view of this endeavour, referred to as audio-motor integration. A literature review and two learning-based methods for audio-motor integration in robot audition are presented, with application to single-microphone sound source localization and ego-noise reduction on real data

Legged Robots

International audienc

Conception mécanique et commande de l'appareil locomoteur d'un robot humanoïde

La présente thèse concerne la conception mécanique et la commande de l appareil locomoteur d un robot bipède de petite taille. En collaboration avec l entreprise Aldébaran Robotics, une étude complète de la mécatronique des jambes du robot est présentée. En s appuyant sur un cahier des charges, le choix de la cinématique ainsi que le choix des actionneurs est décrit. De plus, un protocole expérimental complet permettant de dimensionner ces actionneurs est précisément étudié. Cette phase se termine par la réalisation de différents prototypes en partenariat avec Aldébaran Robotics. Enfin, une étude et une implémentation d un premier algorithme de contrôle de locomotion bipèdique est présenté. Ce manuscrit se termine par la présentation de divers résultats de marche omnidirectionnelle obtenus sur le dernier prototype de la société.This work deals with the mechanical design and the control of the legs of a small humanoid robot. In collaboration with Aldebaran Robotics, a complete study of the mechatronics of the biped s legs is presented. Based on the specifications of the product, the choice of kinematics and actuators is described. Then, an experimental process allowing the sizing of the leg motors is studied, and some biped prototypes are produced in partnership with Aldebaran Robotics. Finally, we look at the results of experimentations with a first implementation of an omni-directional walk control algorithm on the latest prototype.VERSAILLES-BU Sciences et IUT (786462101) / SudocSudocFranceF

Intérêt de l'électrofusion pour l'abord du scarpa en chirurgie vasculaire (une étude prospective randomisée)

TOURS-BU Médecine (372612103) / SudocSudocFranceF