Recent Advances on Human-Robot Interface of Wheelchair-Mounted Robotic Arm
Background: Wheelchair mounted robotic arm is a typical assistive robot, which is widely used to help the elders and the disabled to complete the activities of daily life. But limited by the restrictions of the users’ athletic ability and cognitive ability, how to flexibly manipulate such robot is still a problem in front of them. The human-computer interaction technology is the core technology of the robot. Its performance directly affects the user's acceptability, satisfaction and promotion of intelligent wheelchairs. Objective: The study aims to give a general summary of recent human-robot interface of wheelchair mounted robotic arm and introduce their respective characteristics. Methods: Based on various patents and research developments about the human-robot interface of the assistive robot at home and abroad, this paper puts forward the basic principle of designing the humanrobot interaction mode, divides the man-robot interface into two categories based on the perspective of user control robot arm, and describes in detail, the typical human-robot interface and its related characteristics contained in each classification. Results: The development trends of the human-robot interface in future are predicted, so as to provide some research reference for the related scientific researchers. Conclusion: Wheelchair mounted robotic arm has important practical significance. Further improvements are needed in the design of the human-robot interface. It can effectively improve the operation performance of the WMRA, and take full advantage of the user’s existing movement ability to meet the requirement of dominating the control process. Furthermore, these improvements in the human-robot interface will allow more and more users to accept the WMRA, manipulate the WMRA, and enjoy improvements in the quality of their life for these assistive robots.