CAREER: Next Generation Patient Simulators

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It is estimated that in the United States many thousands of people are killed each year and billions of dollars lost due to medical errors. The PI argues that one way to reduce the incidence of such errors is through education involving human patient simulator (HPS) systems. Although perhaps the most commonly used android robots in America, a critical technology gap is that none of the commercially available HPS systems exhibit realistic facial expressions, gaze, or mouth movements, despite the vital importance of these cues in how providers assess and treat patients. The PI's goal in this project is to address this shortcoming by developing novel expression synthesis algorithms and social control methods, thereby advancing the fields of affective computing and human-robot interaction. To these ends the PI will model facial features characteristic of 3 pathologies (stroke, cerebral palsy and dystonia, the latter being a neurological disorder in which the muscles of the trunk, shoulders, and neck go into spasm so that the head and limbs are held in unnatural positions), and 2 affective states (pain and drowsiness). She will synthesize these facial features on a new HPS system and create a model of shared social control for operators of expressive robots, and evaluate their impact on educational and task outcomes. Broader Impacts: This research will transform the state of the art in HPS technology by enabling educators to run simulations currently impossible with commercially available technology, thereby leading to more realistic training experiences for doctors, nurses, and combat medics, which will ultimately improve healthcare. It will create new facial models of stroke, dystonia and cerebral palsy, which may impact fields such as computer vision and biometrics while also enhancing our understanding of these disorders and providing a means for educating people how to better interact with those suffering from these disabilities and/or to quickly recognize signs of stroke. The PI will also conduct substantial mentoring activities for undergraduates and outreach activities for K-12 students.