A portable light-weight climbing robot for personal assistance applications

Transcription

1 A portable light-weight climbing robot for personal assistance applications A. Gimenez, A. Jardon, R. Correal, R. Cabas and C. Balaguer RoboticsLab, {agimenez, ajardon, rcorreal, rcabas, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid Abstract Human care and service demands will need innovative robotic solutions to make easier the everyday of elderly and disable people in home and workplace environments. The main objective of this work is to develop a new concept of climbing robot for this type of service applications. ASIBOT is a 5 DOF self-containing manipulator, that includes on-board all the control system. The main advantage of this robot is its light weight, about 11 kg with 1.3m reach. The robot is totally autonomous and needs only power supply to be operated. The robot is a symmetrical arm able to move between different points (Docking Stations) of the rooms and, if it is necessary, jump to (or from) the environment to the wheelchair. In this way the ASIBOT robot could became a home companion and assistance for numerous people. Keywords: Rehabilitation robotics, light weight robot, Service robots, hard-soft architectures 1 Introduction During the last years the rehabilitation technology has developed towards more flexible and adaptable robotic systems. These robots aim at supporting disable and elderly people with special needs in their home environment. Furthermore, most advanced countries are becoming to be aged societies, and the percentage of people with special needs is already significant and due this aging. There have been very interesting developments in this field, such as PARO [1], a robot which provide psychological and social effects to human beings, or Dexter [2] and MANUS [3], which are mounted on a wheelchair and helps in welfare tasks to the disabled people. Another interesting robot is HANDY 1 [4] a feeding helper and RAID [5] a robotic workstation for vocational purposes. The Korean developments in rehabilitation robots KARES I (wheelchair mounted) and KARES II (mobile platform mounted) [6] are also

2 2 A. Gimenez, A. Jardon, R. Correal, R. Cabas and C. Balaguer very interesting. Only the MANUS and HANDY 1 are a commercially available robotic system capable of assisting the most severely disabled people in self-feeding, and personal hygiene tasks. The modular aids system concept [7] represents the meeting point between two lines of work, robotics and domotic devices, both integrated in the smart home environment [8] [9], thanks to a shared home network. The integral assistance systems are robotic modules and technological aids in general for personal assistance, such as robots, mobile bases, electric wheelchairs, aids for standing up and walking, etc, all together integrated under the same network that manage and supervise the devices in the same way as common home appliances like lighting system, doors and windows, intruder detection or air conditioning. 2 The portable aid robot concept The European Union MATS project (IST ), with the participation, among others, of the University of Staffordshire (UK), Scuola Superiore Sant Ana in Pisa (Italy), University of Lund (Sweden) and University Carlos III of Madrid, has the objective to develop the robotized system that joint both, the static and moving aid systems into one climbing robot [10], [11],[12]. The other partners are not involved in the development of the robotics system, but they are the end-users. The robot is able to be attached to the wheelchair and helps the disabled person in his/her life domestic tasks. But at the same time the robot is able to jump from/to the wheelchair to/from the domestic environment and vice versa. This robot presents a new concept in the rehabilitation robotics [13]. The main advantage of the ASIBOT robot concept is the combination of both, static and moving systems, into one climbing robot. The robot is able to be fixed to the wheelchair and helps the disabled person in his/her life domestic tasks. At the same time the robot is able to work in the day-life environment climbing the walls, tables and other surfaces. 2.1 Climbing ability The climbing ability of this 5 DOF robot is performed by means of the successive fixation and release at Docking Stations (DS) [14]. There are three different kinds of DS: Fixed DS. This kind of mechanisms is fixed to the walls and others places of the house where is needed for any special task such as on the table to place the plates into the dish-washer. Mobile DS. When the robot needs to move a large distance between two DS it is better to move in high velocity. This is possible if the DS is fitted to a mobile trolley that can move in a rail located into the wall.

3 A Portable light-weight climbing robot for personal assistance applications 3 DS on the wheelchair. It is a special DS, which is located on the wheelchair. There is a special DS in the room which allows the transition between the room DS and the wheelchair. The robot presents an innovative grasping method based on special connectors and a bayonet fitting, that allows the robot to move itself along normally unused home spaces, like walls and ceilings. In each tip of the robot there are special conical connectors that also work as a grip. Those parts play three functionalities: 1. The tip docked works as a fixation part to the DS. 2. In the tip of the conical part there are electrical contacts for the power supply to the robot. 3. The free tip of the robot is able to manipulate things thanks to the retractile fingers that work as a hand. The electrical contacts on the top of the cone are hidden to avoid electrical risks. In this way the ASIBOT robot extends the human abilities and is able to perform a big variety of domestic operations: house-keeping, assistance, entertainment, etc. User requirements have driven the research and development processes in the project with continual user evaluation and peer review of the results obtained at every stage. Every relevant aspect of the lives and environments of potential users was explored in detail by acknowledged experts in their field. Physicians, therapists and psychologists has contributed to the process of eliciting and evaluating the views and expectations of the end users who can benefit most from the application of the MATS system [14]. Among these requirements the user demands a technological solution that wouldn t waste the limited spaces in their homes. So they rejected assistance solutions based on mobile platforms or permanently fixed to wheelchair. Fig. 1. The robot is able to climb using the environment connectors.

4 4 A. Gimenez, A. Jardon, R. Correal, R. Cabas and C. Balaguer The results of this user requirements study was used to generate functional and performance specifications for the system s components, which was then be designed and manufactured to satisfy the users needs. Mainly, the ideas of portable aid core and minimum waste of space are consequences of the users needs. Fig. 2. The robot is able to transfer from the environment to the wheelchair. 2.2 Modular and portable system ASIBOT is designed to be modular and capable of fitting into any adapted environment. This means that all the control system is on-board. The only device needed to operate the robot is a PDA based HMI that send commands to perform the tasks. This degree of flexibility has significant implications for the care of the disabled and elderly people with special needs. A great deal of functional flexibility and versatility will be derived from the use of software and the integration of the system into smart home environments [12]. The modularity of the system makes possible for the system to grow as the level of disability of the user changes [13]. The only necessary adaptation is to add more functionalities to the HMI, and maybe some additional tools. Another important aspect of this robot is the capability to be transported by one person and carried to another place in an easy way. Furthermore, it is only necessary a Docking station and 24 V - 600W to connect it in any place. So its possible to use the same robot in several places. The robot is transported

5 A Portable light-weight climbing robot for personal assistance applications 5 Fig. 3. ASIBOT is very easy to transport. The robot is inside the bag. by the caregiver inside a bag such as figure 3 can be seen, or by the own user attached to the wheelchair. To reach this objective, a core aid technology has been developed taking into account two ideas, the portability requirement of the system, and the modularity to integrate the robot in the environment. According to the social inclusion idea, the handicapped people like others need to travel daily from home to the work place and vice versa, and their robot assistance may travel with them. According to the modular aid system concept [7] the robot assistance is part of the structure that provide additional actuation capability. The question is to define which components of the smart home adapted would travel with the user. When the user arrives to their office would need the assistant to perform several task so its necessary to adapt the office. According to the concept of the portable aid core is not necessary duplicate expensive components in the adapted environments. The main functionalities are located in the portable aid core formed by the arm to perform extended manipulation capability and by the Interface, to perform interaction with the robot and the environment. The figure 4, shows the main components of the assistance system, the components inside the box constitute the portable aid core. When the user arrives to the office the user itself can connect the aid core to the local smart controller. The on board control and communication architecture allows its operation from a simple HMI, running on a PDA. The modularity of the software architecture allows operating the robot from multiple wifi-based interfaces, such PDA, joystick, smart-scan devices, chin-control, etc [5]. Only the selected HMI has the direct operation over the robot at the same time. An hospital or geriatric environment is the maximum exponent of the practical approach that the minimum portable aid core offers.

6 6 A. Gimenez, A. Jardon, R. Correal, R. Cabas and C. Balaguer Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of the ASIBOT system. 2.3 Interface An important role in the MATS-system is played by the HMI, the device available to the user: to command the arm functionality, to be informed about the state of the robot or the task the arm is carrying out, to benefit from the HMI navigational feedback during the transfer manoeuvres, to get access to standard application software, including Internet browser and er. A good user interface is necessary for the acceptance of service robots in rehabilitation; it will be only effective if the underlying system has a certain degree of intelligence. There are two ways to interact with the HMI. Like a normal application, clicking buttons, writing text and values using the stick or even the finger because the screen is tactile, see figure 5. Another way, in order to allow the use of this robot by the most severely disabled people, is via voice. The application has a voice recognition module. The user can use a set of defined commands to manage the interface and can perform exactly the same tasks permitted using the tactile screen. Also, the HMI has a voice synthesis module to generate voice message to the user when he/she is controlling the robot using the voice. The communications architecture allows the HMI to use the services present in the environment. In this way is possible to integrate the aid core on to the WIFI infrastructure of the domestic environment obtaining control of home appliances (video, TV, lighting equipment, heating-cooling systems, access to internet, etc); in the same way when the user arrives to the office or to a friend adapted home can connect it self to the same services. The modularity architecture allows to incorporate more functionalities to the system without modifying the robot, simply introducing more sensors and different interfaces HMI depending on the requirements of the end-user.

7 A Portable light-weight climbing robot for personal assistance applications 7 Fig. 5. PDA and joystick to use the ASIBOT. Also it is possible to choose as a HMI the device that make the user feel more comfortable like a traditional joystick showed in the figure 5. This device connects directly with the PDA and generates the commands for direct control of the arm. 3 Conclusions The ASIBOT robot presents an excellent ratio weight/number of DOF/length. Moreover, given that all the control system is on-board, the robot can be very easily transported from one environment to another. The efficiency of the robot in the daily tasks is very high together with the extremely easy adaptation of the home environment to the ASIBOT robot, by introducing low cost DSs and a unique power supply. The system will be able to adapt in an unstructured environment, and it is possible to assist complex tasks. The robot is designed to be modular and capable of fitting into any adapted environment. This means that for the first time a robot can move accurately and reliably between rooms and up or down stairs, and can transfer from being wheelchair- mounted to floor, or wall-mounted. This degree of flexibility will have significant implications for the care of the disabled and elderly people with special needs. ASIBOT satisfied the users needs related to portability and minimum waste of space. The robot is currently finished and is under testing. The adjustment of the control parameters that permit to work successfully in every situation is the main objective. The docking process must be robust for any position of the DS and the robot. The actual tests demonstrate that with the tolerances of the DS location in order of some mm and some degrees, it is possible to perform the docking process in an automatic way with any type of compliance.

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