Experiments in cooperative human multi-robot navigation

In this paper, we consider the problem of a group of autonomous mobile robots and a human moving coordinately in a real-world implementation. The group moves throughout a dynamic and unstructured environment. The key problem to be solved is the inclusion of a human in a real multi-robot system and consequently the multiple robot motion coordination. We present a set of performance metrics (system efficiency and percentage of time in formation) and a novel flexible formation definition whereby a formation control strategy both in simulation and in real-world experiments of a human multi-robot system is presented. The formation control proposed is stable and effective by means of its uniform dispersion, cohesion and flexibility

Multi-robot team formation control in the GUARDIANS project

Purpose The GUARDIANS multi-robot team is to be deployed in a large warehouse in smoke. The team is to assist firefighters search the warehouse in the event or danger of a fire. The large dimensions of the environment together with development of smoke which drastically reduces visibility, represent major challenges for search and rescue operations. The GUARDIANS robots guide and accompany the firefighters on site whilst indicating possible obstacles and the locations of danger and maintaining communications links. Design/methodology/approach In order to fulfill the aforementioned tasks the robots need to exhibit certain behaviours. Among the basic behaviours are capabilities to stay together as a group, that is, generate a formation and navigate while keeping this formation. The control model used to generate these behaviours is based on the so-called social potential field framework, which we adapt to the specific tasks required for the GUARDIANS scenario. All tasks can be achieved without central control, and some of the behaviours can be performed without explicit communication between the robots. Findings The GUARDIANS environment requires flexible formations of the robot team: the formation has to adapt itself to the circumstances. Thus the application has forced us to redefine the concept of a formation. Using the graph-theoretic terminology, we can say that a formation may be stretched out as a path or be compact as a star or wheel. We have implemented the developed behaviours in simulation environments as well as on real ERA-MOBI robots commonly referred to as Erratics. We discuss advantages and shortcomings of our model, based on the simulations as well as on the implementation with a team of Erratics.</p

In good company? : Perception of movement synchrony of a non-anthropomorphic robot

Copyright: © 2015 Lehmann et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Recent technological developments like cheap sensors and the decreasing costs of computational power have brought the possibility of robotic home companions within reach. In order to be accepted it is vital for these robots to be able to participate meaningfully in social interactions with their users and to make them feel comfortable during these interactions. In this study we investigated how people respond to a situation where a companion robot is watching its user. Specifically, we tested the effect of robotic behaviours that are synchronised with the actions of a human. We evaluated the effects of these behaviours on the robot’s likeability and perceived intelligence using an online video survey. The robot used was Care-O-bot®3, a non-anthropomorphic robot with a limited range of expressive motions. We found that even minimal, positively synchronised movements during an object-oriented task were interpreted by participants as engagement and created a positive disposition towards the robot. However, even negatively synchronised movements of the robot led to more positive perceptions of the robot, as compared to a robot that does not move at all. The results emphasise a) the powerful role that robot movements in general can have on participants’ perception of the robot, and b) that synchronisation of body movements can be a powerful means to enhance the positive attitude towards a non-anthropomorphic robot.Peer reviewe

Experiments in human multi-robot systems.

This thesis seeks to determine the constraints on the possible coordination control for systems composed of a human and group of mobile robots. In particular the constraints imposed by realtime action, robustness and human safety. We intend to put forward the findings on the first (to the best of the author's knowledge) real-world human / multi-robot system that achieves a complex navigation task.The focus is on the development of an autonomous robotic system to create a flexible formation of a group of mobile robots around a human in an unconstrained environment. A suitable environment, robot platforms, control architecture and experimental set-up are described.The robots are virtually linked to each other by application of artificial potential forces that create and maintain a flexible formation. The robots accompany a human, who is an integral part of the team, through a known environment which may contain obstacles. Each robot is capable to detect the position of the robot peers, the human, and obstacles within the sensor range. All robots attempt to maintain specified distances to the human and to every other member of the group, as a result of attractive / repulsive forces. The procedure guarantees cohesion of formation whilst avoiding collisions among participating components.The control procedure is achieved by generating a minimal generic control model and next devising the required robot controller. By virtue of our methodology, we first test and refine our controller through simulation, followed by a set of experiments carried out in real-world environments to quantify the performance and reliability of the method. We provide performance metrics that illustrate: (a) comparison of the utility of different control methods, (b) examination of tradeoffs between different metrics, and (c) details the method of comparison for future research in this area. The refined model / controller, based on these metrics, is shown to be more successful and reliable

What has happened today? Memory visualisation of a robot companion to assist user’s memory

This is the accepted author manuscript version of the following article: "Joan Saez-Pons, Dag SverreSyrdal, and Kerstin Dautenhahn, “What has happened today? Memory visualisation of a robot companion to assist user’s memory”, Journal of Assistive Technologies, Vol. 9 (4): 207-218, 2015." The published version can be found online at: https://doi.org/10.1108/JAT-02-2015-0004 © Emerald Group Publishing Limited 2015 Published by Emerald Group Publishing LimitedPurpose – Memory deterioration is one of the most common cognitive issues associated with ageing. Not being able to remember daily routines (e.g. taking medicine) poses a serious threat to personal independence. Smart homes combined with assistive robots have been suggested as an acceptable solution to support the independent living of the older people. The purpose of this paper is to develop a memory visualisation tool in robots and smart houses following the hypothesis that the use of memory aids will have a positive effect on the cognitive capabilities of older people. Design/methodology/approach – This paper describes the iterative development process and evaluation of a novel interface to visualise the episodic memory of a socially assistive robotic system which could help to improve the memory capabilities of older users. Two experimental studies were carried out to assess usability, usefulness and envisaged use of such a system. Findings – Results show that users find a memory tool for the robot useful to help them remember daily routines and when trying to recall previous events. Usability results emphasise the need to tailor the memory tool to specific age ranges. Originality/value – The research to date provides support that for assistive robots to be a truly useful tool, they must be able to deliver episodic memory visualisation tools that enhance day-to-day living (i.e. environmental information, data on the robot’s actions and human-robot interaction episodes). Equipping a robotic companion with a novel memory visualisation tool for episodic memory is an excellent opportunity to have a robot provide such a functionality (cognitive prosthetics).Peer reviewe

A robot swarm assisting a human fire-fighter

Emergencies in industrial warehouses are a major concern for fire-fighters. The large dimensions, together with the development of dense smoke that drastically reduces visibility, represent major challenges. The GUARDIANS robot swarm is designed to assist fire-fighters in searching a large warehouse. In this paper we discuss the technology developed for a swarm of robots assisting fire-fighters. We explain the swarming algorithms that provide the functionality by which the robots react to and follow humans while no communication is required. Next we discuss the wireless communication system, which is a so-called mobile ad-hoc network. The communication network provides also the means to locate the robots and humans. Thus, the robot swarm is able to provide guidance information to the humans. Together with the fire-fighters we explored how the robot swarm should feed information back to the human fire-fighter. We have designed and experimented with interfaces for presenting swarm-based information to human beings

Rate and duration of hospitalisation for acute pulmonary embolism in the real-world clinical practice of different countries : Analysis from the RIETE registry

publishersversionPeer reviewe

Emotional factors in robot-based assistive services for elderly at home

Emotional factors related to aging at home assistive technology are known to affect technology are known to affect technology acceptance effective use, and quality of life improvement. This paper is a survey on the affective dimension of robot-based systems conceived for helping elderly at home. the specificity of elders' capabilities (e.g. sensory and cognitive), coping styles, aspirations, lifestyles, social rules and preferences are faced with available knowledge from the fields of social psychology, sociology and gerontology. In the case of social robots, convenient verbal and non-verbal communication and motion behavior (e.g. social distance, space formations) are to be designed according to generational and cultural rules. Moreover, robot behavior should be congruent with its role (i.e. helper, companion) and affordances.Postprint (published version

PDKit: a data science toolkit for the digital assessment of Parkinson's Disease

PDkit is an open source software toolkit supporting the collaborative development of novel methods of digital assessment for Parkinson's Disease, using symptom measurements captured continuously by wearables (passive monitoring) or by high-use-frequency smartphone apps (active monitoring). The goal of the toolkit is to help address the current lack of algorithmic and model transparency in this area by facilitating open sharing of standardised methods that allow the comparison of results across multiple centres and hardware variations. PDkit adopts the information-processing pipeline abstraction incorporating stages for data ingestion, quality of information augmentation, feature extraction, biomarker estimation and finally, scoring using standard clinical scales. Additionally, a dataflow programming framework is provided to support high performance computations. The practical use of PDkit is demonstrated in the context of the CUSSP clinical trial in the UK. The toolkit is implemented in the python programming language, the de facto standard for modern data science applications, and is widely available under the MIT license

Emotional factors in robot-based assistive services for elderly at home

Emotional factors related to aging at home assistive technology are known to affect technology are known to affect technology acceptance effective use, and quality of life improvement. This paper is a survey on the affective dimension of robot-based systems conceived for helping elderly at home. the specificity of elders' capabilities (e.g. sensory and cognitive), coping styles, aspirations, lifestyles, social rules and preferences are faced with available knowledge from the fields of social psychology, sociology and gerontology. In the case of social robots, convenient verbal and non-verbal communication and motion behavior (e.g. social distance, space formations) are to be designed according to generational and cultural rules. Moreover, robot behavior should be congruent with its role (i.e. helper, companion) and affordances