SBIR Phase II: Personal Service Robotics with Tiered Human-in-the-Loop Assistance

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目将创建实现实用的个人服务机器人所需的技术组件、操作员界面和集成。个人服务挑战机器人的无组织、杂乱和不断变化的环境，并要求执行复杂的任务。我们的新方法允许自主算法根据需要请求人类协助。在多个层次上，协助的范围可以从简单地识别部分闭塞的物体，到选择适当的抓取配置，甚至通过直接的遥操作来解开被卡住的物体；然而，持续的操作员参与应该只发生在极少数情况下。与传统的遥操作相比，这种方法使不完美的自主性能够完成全部任务，同时最大限度地减少人工劳动需求。第一阶段的努力确定了这一综合办法的可行性，同时展示了典型家务的执行情况。第二阶段的发展将侧重于减少人力工作量。主要创新将从三个方面进行：(A)为不同的援助需求创建和优化不同的操作员界面，(B)完善自主性以减少对援助的需求，以及(C)将应用和支持算法缩小到相关和所需的服务任务。这些发展将允许单个运营商并行支持多个机器人，其乘法效应将放大体力节省。该项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力解决了这样一个事实，即美国和许多工业化国家一样，正在看到其人口结构向老年人口转移。这意味着劳动力的萎缩以及支持老年社区的劳动力需求的增加，随着他们年龄的增长，这将需要更多的日常生活任务的帮助。机器人技术通常被认为是解决有限劳动力供应问题的一种解决方案。该公司专门针对个人服务机器人，通过家庭护理提供者或辅助生活设施为老年人提供支持。通过减少操作员的工作量，并允许单个操作员协助多个机器人执行个人服务任务，这种研发工作可以提高服务劳动力的生产率，并提供比传统可能的更高质量的个人服务。这种机器人方法还可以更容易地跨物理距离分配劳动力。这将使老年人能够在熟悉的住房中变老，保持更大的独立性，并减少他们在家里或辅助生活设施中的费用。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase-II project will create the technological components, operator interfaces, and integration necessary to achieve practical Personal Service Robots. Personal service challenges robots with unstructured, cluttered, and ever-changing environments, and requires execution of complex tasks. Our novel approach allows autonomous algorithms to request human assistance as needed. Across multiple tiers, assistance can range from simply identifying a partially occluded object, to selecting an appropriate grasp configuration, or even to unsticking a wedged object by direct teleoperation; however, sustained operator involvement should only occur infrequently. This approach enables imperfect autonomy to complete full tasks while minimizing manual labor needs as compared to classical teleoperation. Efforts during Phase I established the feasibility of this combined approach while demonstrating the execution of typical household tasks. Developments under Phase II will focus on reducing the human workload. Major innovations will occur from three elements: (a) creating and optimizing distinct operator interfaces for different assistance needs, (b) refining autonomy to reduce the need for assistance, and (c) narrowing applications and support algorithms to relevant and desired service tasks. These developments will allow individual operators to support multiple robots in parallel, with the multiplicative effect amplifying manual labor savings.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project addresses the fact that the U.S., like many industrialized nations, is seeing its demographics shift to an older population. This implies a shrinking workforce as well as rising labor needs to support the older adult community, which will require greater assistance with tasks of daily living as they age. Robotics is often considered a solution to stretch a limited labor supply. The company specifically target personal service robotics to support older adults via either home care providers or assisted living facilities. By reducing operator workload and allowing a single operator to assist multiple robots performing personal service tasks, this R&D effort can increase the productivity of service labor and provide a higher quality of personal service than traditionally possible. This robotic approach can also more easily distribute the labor across physical distances. This will allow older adults to age in familiar housing, retain greater independence, and reduce their expenses at home or in assisted living facilities.