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A robot which operates semi- or fully autonomously to perform services useful to the well-being of humans Service robots cater to the general public, in a variety of indoor settings, from the hospital to the home, from offices to classrooms
Although some overlap between categories can classify international research into following general focus areas Service Robots in Entertainment Service Robots in Education Service Robots in Public Spaces Service Robots for Domestic Spaces
Flutist/Saxophonist Robot Ping-Pong Playing Robot Advertising Robot
Entertainment robots can be seen in the context of: A robot made for the sole subjective purpose of engaging the human for amusement (i.e. interact with the general public) A robot made for the sole subjective purpose of interacting with the artist to enable augmentation of artistic experiences (i.e. engage with the artist)
Saxophonist Robot Waseda University, Japan Creates music both for the public and in conjunction with musicians Advertising Robot Keio University, Japan A smart phone-based interface that orients toward approaching people and attracts their attention Focus on marketing applications Ping-Pong Robot Zhejiang University, China Rally with a human player. Best record is 145 strokes. Two robots rally with each other. Best record is 176 strokes.
Motivation Mediated communication between teachers and students Education robots tend to focus on providing a tele-presence for a teacher to engage with students in a remote classroom environment
Tutoring Robots ATR, Japan English Teaching Robot KAIST University, Korea Robosem robot used by an English tutor as a telepresence platform ETRI, Korea
Mediated Communication Home Automation Daily Chores
Motivation Mediated communication between local and remote users Focus has been on connecting elders with others within the family Research designed to provide tele-presence support for the remote user
Teroos Keio University, China Telepresence using robots and immersive interactive interfaces Kyoto University, Japan Telenoid ATR, Japan A wearable avatar to enhance joint activities between a local and a remote user Robot is controlled remotely to provide a sense of presence to the remote use. A minimalist robot to support conversational interfaces
Motivation Design robotic technologies that are integrated into the physical environment to enable support of individualized services. Systems use sensor devices and interfaces to monitor user behaviors and actions, and provide information displays to support the user. Home automation has focused on providing support for older adults who would prefer to stay in the comfort of their homes rather than move to a healthcare facility.
Room instrumentation to monitor users over long periods, build models of their activities, and supports these activities through personalized services University of Tokyo, Japan Attachable interfaces for anthropomorphizing devices Keio University, China
Motivation Provide supporting robotic technologies to enable a range of activities for daily living and household chores, from fetch and carry to manipulation of common household objects Focus is on making consumer robots that are Dependable, Sociable, and Affordable for the home environment
Hiro TITEC, Japan Manipulates cup pouring based on direct user requests Person-Following Takes orders and serves to the right person HomeMate SKKU, Korea @Home service robot Zhejiang, China Targeted for 3 Service Scenarios Running Errands, Medicine Delivery and Video Chatting
Restaurant Service Robots Shopping Service Robots
Motivation Focus is on the design of robotic systems that provide services in public places Requires the integration of various forms of communication mechanisms for friendly interactions between humans and robots and the development of algorithms and/or sensors for understanding people s intentions, and interests.
Robotic Systems for Public Spaces incorporates wide variety of algorithms Localization of individuals within crowds of people Modeling of Crowd and Individual Behaviors Ability to Interactively Communicate for activities such as Taking Orders Ability to Identify and Track Individuals of Interest FURO - Restaurant Service Robot KAIST, Korea Shopping Robot ATR, Japan
The technology for teleoperation is here now and works fairly well in certain situations. The next required step of technology for full autonomous operations has not been fully developed and deployed in the target populace. Networking the full suite of service robots to provide integrated services versus distributed, single applications is still an open problem. With some exceptions, most efforts have focused on assessment with respect to individual perspective rather than robot performance in long-term deployment scenarios Transitioning from pre-programmed/scripted behaviors to adaptive (or learned) behaviors is not a targeted focus in most cases
Service robots hold great promise in: Education Entertainment Home Environment Public Environments Most research is heavily application-focused and thus algorithms are designed to enable deployment in shortterm scenarios However, robotic technology will need to begin focusing on additional capabilities needed to deal with the adaptive nature of interacting with general users over the long-term