Whisking with robots from rat vibrissae to biomimetic technology for active touch

This article summarizes some of the key features of the rat vibrissal system, including the actively controlled sweeping movements of the vibrissae known as whisking, and reviews the past and ongoing research aimed at replicating some of this functionality in biomimetic robots

Creating a voice for MiRo, the world's first commercial biomimetic robot

Copyright © 2017 ISCA. This paper introduces MiRo-The world's first commercial biomimetic robot-And describes how its vocal system was designed using a real-Time parametric general-purpose mammalian vocal synthesiser tailored to the specific physical characteristics of the robot. MiRo's capabilities will be demonstrated live during the hands-on interactive 'Show & Tell' session at INTERSPEECH-2017

MiRo: An animal-like companion robot with a biomimetic brain-based control system

© 2017 Authors.The MiRo robot is a new pet-sized mobile platform with an emotionally-engaging personality and appearance that has been developed for research on companion robotics and robot-assisted therapy. MiRo has six senses and eight degrees of freedom that are designed to promote human-robot interaction. A distinctive feature is the use of a biomimetic brain-based control system consisting of a layered control architecture alongside centralized mechanisms for integration and action selection. MiRo has been developed by Consequential Robotics, a spin-out of the University of Sheffield, and aims to provide the HRI community with a flexible platform for research and education

Multiple-model approach to non-linear kernel-based adaptive filtering

Kernel methods now provide standard tools for the solution of function approximation and pattern classification problems. However, it is typically assumed that all data are available for training. More recently, various approaches have been proposed for extending kernel methods to sequential problems whereby the model is updated as each new data point arrives. Whilst these approaches have proven successful in estimating the basic parameters, the problem of estimating the hyperparameters which determine the overall model behaviour, remains essentially unsolved. In this paper a novel approach to the hyperparameters is presented based on a multiple model framework. An ensemble of models with different hyperparameters is trained in parallel, the outputs of which are subsequently combined based on a predictive performance measure. This new approach is sucessfully demonstrated in a standard benchmark time series problem

Saying It with Light: A Pilot Study of Affective Communication Using the MIRO Robot

Recently, the concept of a ‘companion robot’ as a healthcare tool has been popularised, and even commercialised. We present MIRO, a robot that is biomimetic in aesthetics, morphology, behaviour, and control architecture. In this paper, we review how these design choices affect its suitability for a companionship role. In particular, we consider how emulation of the familiar body language and other emotional expressions of mammals may facilitate effective communication with na¨ıve users through the reliable evocation of intended perceptions of emotional state and intent. We go on to present a brief pilot study addressing the question of whether shared cultural signals can be relied upon, similarly, as components of communication systems for companion robots. Such studies form part of our ongoing effort to understand and quantify human responses to robot expressive behaviour and, thereby, develop a methodology for optimising the design of social robots by accounting for individual and cultural differences

Reduction of kernel models

Kernel models can be expensive to compute and in a non-stationary environment can become unmanageably large. Here we present several previously reported techniques for reducing the complexity of these models in a common framework. This reformulation leads to the development of further related reduction techniques and clarifies the relationships between these and the existing techniques

Predictive prey pursuit in a whiskered robot

Highly active small mammals need to capture prey rapidly and with a high success rate if they are to survive. We consider the case of the Etruscan shrew, which hunts prey including crickets almost as large as itself, and relies on its whiskers (vibrissae) to complete a kill. We model this hunting behaviour using a whiskered robot. Shrews strike rapidly and accurately after gathering very limited sensory information; we attempt to match this performance by using model-based simultaneous discrimination and localisation of a ‘prey’ robot (i.e. by using strong priors). We report performance that is comparable, given the spatial and temporal scale differences, to shrew performance in most respects

MIRO: A Versatile Biomimetic Edutainment Robot

Here we present MIRO, a companion robot designed to engage users in science and robotics via edutainment. MIRO is a robot that is biomimetic in aesthetics, morphology, behaviour, and control architecture. In this paper, we review how these design choices affect its suitability for a companionship role. In particular, we consider how MIRO's emulation of familiar mammalian body language as one component of a broader biomimetic expressive system provides effective communication of emotional state and intent. We go on to discuss how these features contribute to MIRO's potential in other domains such as healthcare, education, and research

IntelliTable: Inclusively-Designed Furniture with Robotic Capabilities

IntelliTable is a new proof-of-principle assistive technology system with robotic capabilities in the form of an elegant universal cantilever table able to move around by itself, or under user control. We describe the design and current capabilities of the table and the human-centered design methodology used in its development and initial evaluation. The IntelliTable study has delivered robotic platform programmed by a smartphone that can navigate around a typical home or care environment, avoiding obstacles, and positioning itself at the user's command. It can also be configured to navigate itself to pre-ordained places positions within an environment using ceiling tracking, responsive optical guidance and object-based sonar navigation