II-NEW: A Robot for In Situ Research on Assistive Mobile Manipulation

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

Assistive robots that autonomously manipulate objects within everyday settings have the potential to improve the lives of the elderly, injured, and disabled. Although researchers have demonstrated relevant capabilities within laboratory environments, current methods are untested and potentially unsuitable for the variability of real-world healthcare environments. In order to address this critical issue, the new infrastructure funded by this award consists of a state-of-the-art robot (a mobile manipulator) dedicated to research conducted outside of the lab via collaborations with healthcare researchers and providers. The robot spends extended periods of time (residencies) in environments where assistive robots are expected to make a positive impact, including the homes of persons with disabilities, assisted living environments for the elderly, and clinical facilities. These residencies enable robotics researchers to maximize the impact of their research by identifying and addressing the roadblocks to deployment of autonomous mobile manipulators for healthcare. The research supported by this infrastructure will result in new methods for assistive manipulation and contributions to compliant arm control, multi-modal perception, and human-robot interaction. It will also begin to quantitatively characterize the variability of real-world healthcare environments. Results of this research will be communicated via academic publications, a website, open source code, and publicly released data captured with the robot. The robot will also have residencies at Spelman College (an HBCU for women) to promote science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education.