scholarly journals Feel-Good Requirements: Neurophysiological and Psychological Design Criteria of Affective Touch for (Assistive) Robots

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehmet Ege Cansev ◽  
Daniel Nordheimer ◽  
Elsa Andrea Kirchner ◽  
Philipp Beckerle
Keyword(s):  
Human Perception ◽  
Neural System ◽  
Assistive Devices ◽  
Assistive Robotics ◽  
Body Experience ◽  
Technical Data ◽  
Affective Touch ◽  
Social And Emotional ◽  
Assistive Robots ◽  
Tactile Interfaces

Previous research has shown the value of the sense of embodiment, i.e., being able to integrate objects into one's bodily self-representation, and its connection to (assistive) robotics. Especially, tactile interfaces seem essential to integrate assistive robots into one's body model. Beyond functional feedback, such as tactile force sensing, the human sense of touch comprises specialized nerves for affective signals, which transmit positive sensations during slow and low-force tactile stimulations. Since these signals are extremely relevant for body experience as well as social and emotional contacts but scarcely considered in recent assistive devices, this review provides a requirement analysis to consider affective touch in engineering design. By analyzing quantitative and qualitative information from engineering, cognitive psychology, and neuroscienctific research, requirements are gathered and structured. The resulting requirements comprise technical data such as desired motion or force/torque patterns and an evaluation of potential stimulation modalities as well as their relations to overall user experience, e.g., pleasantness and realism of the sensations. This review systematically considers the very specific characteristics of affective touch and the corresponding parts of the neural system to define design goals and criteria. Based on the analysis, design recommendations for interfaces mediating affective touch are derived. This includes a consideration of biological principles and human perception thresholds which are complemented by an analysis of technical possibilities. Finally, we outline which psychological factors can be satisfied by the mediation of affective touch to increase acceptance of assistive devices and outline demands for further research and development.

scholarly journals Can a humanoid social robot stimulate the interactivity of cognitively impaired elderly? A thorough study based on computer vision methods

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gauri Tulsulkar ◽  
Nidhi Mishra ◽  
Nadia Magnenat Thalmann ◽  
Hwee Er Lim ◽  
Mei Ping Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Computer Vision ◽  
Psychosocial Support ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Assistive Robotics ◽  
Cognitively Impaired ◽  
Assistive Robots ◽  
Institutional Review ◽  
Human Need

AbstractSocial Assistive Robotics is increasingly being used in care settings to provide psychosocial support and interventions for the elderly with cognitive impairments. Most of these social robots have provided timely stimuli to the elderly at home and in care centres, including keeping them active and boosting their mood. However, previous investigations have registered shortcomings in these robots, particularly in their ability to satisfy an essential human need: the need for companionship. Reports show that the elderly tend to lose interests in these social robots after the initial excitement as the novelty wears out and the monotonous familiarity becomes all too familiar. This paper presents our research facilitating conversations between a social humanoid robot, Nadine, and cognitively impaired elderly at a nursing home. We analysed the effectiveness of human–humanoid interactions between our robot and 14 elderly over 29 sessions. We used both objective tools (based on computer vision methods) and subjective tools (based on observational scales) to evaluate the recorded videos. Our findings showed that our subjects engaged positively with Nadine, suggesting that their interaction with the robot could improve their well-being by compensating for some of their emotional, cognitive, and psychosocial deficiencies. We detected emotions associated with cognitively impaired elderly during these interactions. This study could help understand the expectations of the elderly and the current limitations of Social Assistive Robots. Our research is aligned with all the ethical recommendations by the NTU Institutional Review Board.

scholarly journals Application of Reinforcement Learning to a Robotic Drinking Assistant

Robotics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tejas Kumar Shastha ◽  
Maria Kyrarini ◽  
Axel Gräser
Keyword(s):  
Reinforcement Learning ◽  
Tactile Feedback ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Assistive Robotics ◽  
Training Procedure ◽  
Assistive Robots ◽  
Assistive Robot ◽  
Markov Decision ◽  
Degree Of Acceptance ◽  
High Degree

Meal assistant robots form a very important part of the assistive robotics sector since self-feeding is a priority activity of daily living (ADL) for people suffering from physical disabilities like tetraplegia. A quick survey of the current trends in this domain reveals that, while tremendous progress has been made in the development of assistive robots for the feeding of solid foods, the task of feeding liquids from a cup remains largely underdeveloped. Therefore, this paper describes an assistive robot that focuses specifically on the feeding of liquids from a cup using tactile feedback through force sensors with direct human–robot interaction (HRI). The main focus of this paper is the application of reinforcement learning (RL) to learn what the best robotic actions are, based on the force applied by the user. A model of the application environment is developed based on the Markov decision process and a software training procedure is designed for quick development and testing. Five of the commonly used RL algorithms are investigated, with the intention of finding the best fit for training, and the system is tested in an experimental study. The preliminary results show a high degree of acceptance by the participants. Feedback from the users indicates that the assistive robot functions intuitively and effectively.

scholarly journals Development and Preliminary Investigation of a Semiautonomous Socially Assistive Robot (SAR) Designed to Elicit Communication, Motor Skills, Emotion, and Visual Regard (Engagement) from Young Children with Complex Cerebral Palsy: A Pilot Comparative Trial

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Cecilia Clark ◽  
Levin Sliker ◽  
Jim Sandstrum ◽  
Brian Burne ◽  
Victoria Haggett ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Palsy ◽  
Preliminary Investigation ◽  
Comparative Trial ◽  
Assistive Technologies ◽  
Assistive Robotics ◽  
Assistive Robots ◽  
Assistive Robot ◽  
Play Interactions ◽  
Socially Assistive Robot ◽  
Positive Engagement

Through play, typically developing children manipulate objects and interact with peers to establish and develop physical, cognitive, language, and social skills. However, children with complex disabilities and/or developmental delays have limited play experiences, thus compromising the quality of play and acquisition of skills. Assistive technologies have been developed to increase opportunities and level of interaction for children with disabilities to facilitate learning and development. One type of technology, Socially Assistive Robotics, is designed to assist the human user through social interaction while creating measurable growth in learning and rehabilitation. The investigators in this study designed, developed, and validated a semiautonomous Socially Assistive Robot to compare with a switch-adapted toy to determine robot effectiveness in quantity of, changes in, and differences in engagement. After interacting with both systems for three sessions each, five of the eight subjects showed a greater level of positive engagement with the robot than the switch-adapted toy, while the remaining three subjects showed slightly higher positive engagement with the toy. The preliminary results of the study suggest that Socially Assistive Robots specifically designed for children with complex cerebral palsy should be further researched and utilized to enrich play interactions and skill development for this population.

The ‘Working Body’: Interrogating and Reimagining the Productivist Impulses of Transhumanism through Crip-Centered Speculative Design

Somatechnics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-354
Author(s):  
Franchesca Spektor ◽  
Sarah Fox
Keyword(s):  
Assistive Technologies ◽  
Assistive Devices ◽  
Disabled People ◽  
Planned Obsolescence ◽  
Design Concepts ◽  
Assistive Robots ◽  
Final Design ◽  
Care Relationships ◽  
Design Proposal ◽  
Speculative Design

Appeals to ‘nature’ have historically led to normative claims about who is rendered valuable. These understandings elevate a universal, working body (read able-bodied, white, producing capital) that design and disability studies scholar Aimi Hamraie argues ‘has served as a template […] for centuries’ (2017: 20), becoming reified through our architectural, political, and technological infrastructures. Using the framing of the cyborg, we explore how contemporary assistive technologies have the potential to both reproduce and trouble such normative claims. The modern transhumanism movement imagines cyborg bodies as self-contained and invincible, championing assistive technologies that seek to assimilate disabled people towards ever-increasing standards of independent productivity and connecting worth with the body's capacity for labor. In contrast, disability justice communities see all bodies as inherently worthy and situated within a network of care-relationships. Rather than being invincible, the cripborg's relationship with technology is complicated by the ever-present functional and financial constraints of their assistive devices. Despite these lived experiences, the expertise and agency of disabled activist communities is rarely engaged throughout the design process. In this article, we use speculative design techniques to reimagine assistive technologies with members of disability communities, resulting in three fictional design proposals. The first is a manual for a malfunctioning exoskeleton, meant to fill in the gaps where corporate planned obsolescence and black-boxed design delimit repair and maintenance. The second is a zine instructing readers on how to build their own intimate prosthetics, emphasizing the need to design for pleasurable, embodied, and affective experience. The final design proposal is a city-owned fleet of assistive robots meant to push people in manual wheelchairs up hills or carry loads for elderly people, an example of an environmental adaptation which explores the problems of automating care. With and through these design concepts, we begin to explore assistive devices that center the values of disability communities, using design proposals to co-imagine versions of a more crip-centered future.

scholarly journals Tactile-Foot Stimulation Can Assist the Navigation of People with Visual Impairment

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramiro Velázquez ◽  
Edwige Pissaloux ◽  
Aimé Lay-Ekuakille
Keyword(s):  
Visual Impairment ◽  
Tactile Stimulation ◽  
Visual Impairments ◽  
Assistive Devices ◽  
Tactile Information ◽  
Human Navigation ◽  
Plantar Surface ◽  
The Third ◽  
Tactile Interfaces ◽  
Technological Improvements

Background.Tactile interfaces that stimulate the plantar surface with vibrations could represent a step forward toward the development of wearable, inconspicuous, unobtrusive, and inexpensive assistive devices for people with visual impairments.Objective.To study how people understand information through their feet and to maximize the capabilities of tactile-foot perception for assisting human navigation.Methods.Based on the physiology of the plantar surface, three prototypes of electronic tactile interfaces for the foot have been developed. With important technological improvements between them, all three prototypes essentially consist of a set of vibrating actuators embedded in a foam shoe-insole. Perceptual experiments involving direction recognition and real-time navigation in space were conducted with a total of 60 voluntary subjects.Results.The developed prototypes demonstrated that they are capable of transmitting tactile information that is easy and fast to understand. Average direction recognition rates were 76%, 88.3%, and 94.2% for subjects wearing the first, second, and third prototype, respectively. Exhibiting significant advances in tactile-foot stimulation, the third prototype was evaluated in navigation tasks. Results show that subjects were capable of following directional instructions useful for navigating spaces.Conclusion.Footwear providing tactile stimulation can be considered for assisting the navigation of people with visual impairments.

Socially Assistive Robots and Autism

2010 ◽  
Vol 166-167 ◽  
pp. 315-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Nikolopoulos ◽  
Deitra Kuester ◽  
Mark Sheehan ◽  
Sneha Dhanya ◽  
William Herring ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Assistive Robotics ◽  
Intervention Model ◽  
Socially Assistive Robotics ◽  
Assistive Robots ◽  
Socially Assistive Robots ◽  
Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Ongoing Project

Socially Assistive Robotics is a newly emerging area of robotics where robots are used to help a human through social interaction. This paper describes an ongoing project on the use of robotics as therapeutically or educationally useful tools for treating individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The robotic Lego NXT platform was used to develop an economical, practical and efficient means of helping teach social behavior to individuals with ASD in school/home environments. In addition, our approach to treatment is described as an educational intervention which is a combination of Socially Assistive Robotics, the DIR/Floortime intervention model and social script/stories.

An EEG/EOG-based hybrid brain-neural computer interaction (BNCI) system to control an exoskeleton for the paralyzed hand

2015 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Surjo R. Soekadar ◽  
Matthias Witkowski ◽  
Nicola Vitiello ◽  
Niels Birbaumer
Keyword(s):  
Daily Life ◽  
Hand Function ◽  
Hybrid Approach ◽  
Assistive Devices ◽  
Assistive Robotics ◽  
Psychosocial Impairment ◽  
Hand Exoskeleton ◽  
Improved Performance ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Computer Interaction

AbstractThe loss of hand function can result in severe physical and psychosocial impairment. Thus, compensation of a lost hand function using assistive robotics that can be operated in daily life is very desirable. However, versatile, intuitive, and reliable control of assistive robotics is still an unsolved challenge. Here, we introduce a novel brain/neural-computer interaction (BNCI) system that integrates electroencephalography (EEG) and electrooculography (EOG) to improve control of assistive robotics in daily life environments. To evaluate the applicability and performance of this hybrid approach, five healthy volunteers (HV) (four men, average age 26.5±3.8 years) and a 34-year-old patient with complete finger paralysis due to a brachial plexus injury (BPI) used EEG (condition 1) and EEG/EOG (condition 2) to control grasping motions of a hand exoskeleton. All participants were able to control the BNCI system (BNCI control performance HV: 70.24±16.71%, BPI: 65.93±24.27%), but inclusion of EOG significantly improved performance across all participants (HV: 80.65±11.28, BPI: 76.03±18.32%). This suggests that hybrid BNCI systems can achieve substantially better control over assistive devices, e.g., a hand exoskeleton, than systems using brain signals alone and thus may increase applicability of brain-controlled assistive devices in daily life environments.

scholarly journals Interaction in Assistive Robotics: A Radical Constructivist Design Framework

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco C. Bettoni ◽  
Claudio Castellini
Keyword(s):  
User Interface ◽  
Assistive Devices ◽  
Assistive Robotics ◽  
On Demand ◽  
Upper Limb Prostheses ◽  
New Knowledge ◽  
Radical Constructivist ◽  
Device Interaction ◽  
Interaction Strategy ◽  
User Device

Despite decades of research, muscle-based control of assistive devices (myocontrol) is still unreliable; for instance upper-limb prostheses, each year more and more dexterous and human-like, still provide hardly enough functionality to justify their cost and the effort required to use them. In order to try and close this gap, we propose to shift the goal of myocontrol from guessing intended movements to creating new circular reactions in the constructivist sense defined by Piaget. To this aim, the myocontrol system must be able to acquire new knowledge and forget past one, and knowledge acquisition/forgetting must happen on demand, requested either by the user or by the system itself. We propose a unifying framework based upon Radical Constructivism for the design of such a myocontrol system, including its user interface and user-device interaction strategy.

scholarly journals Population Ageing and Socially Assistive Robots for Elderly Persons: The Importance of Sociodemographic Factors for User Acceptance

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Priska Flandorfer
Keyword(s):  
Sociodemographic Factors ◽  
User Acceptance ◽  
Population Ageing ◽  
Assistive Devices ◽  
Elderly Persons ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Assistive Robots ◽  
Socially Assistive Robots ◽  
Gender Education ◽  
Ageing Populations

Taking care of older adults is among the major challenges currently faced by ageing populations. Researchers, designers, and engineers have proposed socially assistive robots as one way of helping elderly people stay in their homes longer. In a systematic literature review, this paper wants to investigate if and how evaluations of the acceptance of socially assistive robots by older people take into account sociodemographic factors. The results indicate that this only holds true for a few studies. Research that incorporates age, gender, education, and so forth; clearly shows that these key factors have a significant impact. However, the relations are complex and experience with technology mitigates the influence of sociodemographic factors on acceptance. Assistive devices should be adaptable to individual needs to be able to consider all these factors.

scholarly journals Social Robots for the Care of Persons with Dementia

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
Moojan Ghafurian ◽  
Jesse Hoey ◽  
Kerstin Dautenhahn
Keyword(s):  
Digital Library ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Limited Attention ◽  
Social Emotional ◽  
Social And Emotional ◽  
Assistive Robots ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
Assistive Robot ◽  
Future Work

Intelligent assistive robots can enhance the quality of life of people with dementia and their caregivers. They can increase the independence of older adults, reduce tensions between a person with dementia and their caregiver, and increase social engagement. This article provides a review of assistive robots designed for and evaluated by persons with dementia. Assistive robots that only increased mobility or brain-computer interfaces were excluded. Google Scholar, IEEE Digital Library, PubMed, and ACM Digital Library were searched. A final set of 53 articles covering research in 16 different countries are reviewed. Assistive robots are categorized into five different applications and evaluated for their effectiveness, as well as the robots’ social and emotional capabilities. Our findings show that robots used in the context of therapy or for increasing engagement received the most attention in the literature, whereas the robots that assist by providing health guidance or help with an activity of daily living received relatively limited attention. PARO was the most commonly used robot in dementia care studies. The effectiveness of each assistive robot and the outcome of the studies are discussed, and particularly, the social/emotional capabilities of each assistive robot are summarized. Gaps in the research literature are identified and we provide directions for future work.

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