NRI: Small: Assistive Robots for Blind Travelers

PI：迪亚斯，伯纳丁先生；摘要：随着机器人技术发展到协作机器人成为现实的阶段，我们需要确保它们同样有能力与残疾人互动。本文提出的工作通过探索盲人旅行者辅助机器人背景下有意义的人机交互来解决这一挑战。对于残疾人来说，独立的交通仍然是就业和生活质量的主要障碍。此外，需要撤离的紧急情况是他们面临的最大恐惧之一。在这项工作中，我们试图回答的关键问题是：协作机器人在帮助残疾人安全前往和导航陌生环境方面能发挥什么作用？我们假设协作机器人可以通过帮助这些旅行者有效地导航陌生的城市环境并在疏散时提供支持来提高他们的安全性和独立性。我们从需求评估开始我们的工作，以了解盲人旅行者的偏好和挑战。最终目标是提高盲人旅行者的安全和独立性。智力优势：本文提出的工作探索了三个主要研究领域，应用于与盲人旅行者辅助机器人相关的三个场景：(1)信息交换和物体操纵，(2)辅助定位，(3)城市导航和紧急建筑疏散。我们计划探索的研究领域是无障碍界面、辅助交互模式和有效的合作机制。设想的场景包括机器人通过结合感知、机器人定位和众包来帮助人类在必要的分辨率和环境中进行定位，机器人帮助人类找回丢失或掉落的物体或定位物体或感兴趣的人，机器人帮助人类与环境的其他方面进行互动，如阅读通知，以及机器人在建筑物紧急疏散期间协助人类。我们还将探索这些旅行者“教”机器人做他们感兴趣的任务的方法。机器人必须对任务分配进行智能推理，并在需要时与人类协调。总的来说，拟议的研究将显著推进辅助机器人如何有意义和有效地与残疾旅行者互动的知识。该研究的独特之处在于界面的可访问性、交互方式的丰富性以及合作机制的灵活性和范围。这些贡献的结合将显著推动辅助技术以及人机交互的最新发展。更广泛的影响：该团队对本科生的研究经验有着强烈的承诺。在首席研究员和联合首席研究员的指导下，75%以上的学生是女性、少数民族或残疾人。这种承诺延伸到团队的教学活动中。团队成员定期将研究成果纳入课堂报告、客座讲座和研讨会。该团队还致力于社区外展。迪亚斯和斯坦菲尔德都会定期向非学者发表演讲，并将在这样的谈话中包括这个项目的各个方面。最终的教育成果将是在我们的合作伙伴组织中计划的几次讲习班，拟议工作的成果预计将影响这些组织的运营和使用的方法。研究人员和伙伴组织组成的团队进一步增强了该提案的广泛影响。首席研究员迪亚斯是该大学和该学科中为数不多的女性机器人教员之一。她从事许多指导和领导活动，以鼓励和维持妇女在计算机领域的参与，并解决技术服务不足的社区的需求。建议的本科生团队，一名研究生和一名博士后研究助理也将通过参与这项研究获得重要的指导和教育。由于教师在高知名度中心的参与，行业互动超出了常规接触。研究和评估项目是专门针对残疾人的。因此，拟议工作的贡献将在实现残疾人安全和独立旅行的愿景方面取得重大进展。拟议工作的成果将通过各种途径广泛传播，所有研究成果将以无障碍形式提供给社区合作伙伴及其网络。

PI: Dias, M. Bernadine; Steinfeld, AaronProposal Number: 1317989Summary: As robotics technology evolves to a stage where co-robots become a reality, we need to ensure they are equally capable of interacting with humans with disabilities. The proposed work addresses this challenge by exploring meaningful human-robot interaction in the context of assistive robots for blind travelers. For people with disabilities independent transportation remains a major barrier to employment and quality of life. Furthermore, emergency situations necessitating evacuation is one of the greatest fears they face. The key question we seek to answer in the proposed work is: what role can co-robots play in empowering people with disabilities to safely travel to and navigate unfamiliar environments? We hypothesize that co-robots can enhance the safety and independence of these travelers by assisting them to navigate unfamiliar urban environments effectively and providing support when evacuating. We begin our proposed work with a needs assessment to understand the preferences and challenges of blind travelers. The ultimate objective is to enhance the safety and independence of blind travelers.Intellectual Merit: The proposed work explores three principal research areas applied to three scenarios relevant to assistive robots for blind travelers: (1) information exchange and object manipulation, (2) assistive localization, and (3) urban navigation and emergency building evacuation. The research areas we plan to explore are accessible interfaces, assistive interaction modalities, and effective cooperation mechanisms. Envisioned scenarios include robots assisting humans to localize within necessary resolution and context using a combination of perception, robot localization, and crowdsourcing, robots assisting humans to retrieve lost or fallen objects or locate objects or people of interest, robots assisting humans to interact with other aspects of the environment such as reading notices, and robots assisting humans during emergency evacuation of buildings. We will also explore means of these travelers "teaching" the robots to do tasks of interest to them. The robots will have to reason intelligently about task allocation among themselves and coordinating with humans when needed. Overall, the proposed research will significantly advance the knowledge of how assistive robots can meaningfully and effectively interact with travelers with disabilities. The uniqueness of the proposed research is captured in the accessibility of the interfaces, the richness of the interaction modalities, and the flexibility and range of the cooperation mechanisms. The combination of these contributions will significantly advance the state of the art in assistive technology as well as human-robot interaction.Broader Impact: The team has a strong commitment to undergraduate research experience. Over 75% of the students mentored by the Principal Investigator and Co-Principal Investigator have been women, minorities, or people with disabilities. This commitment extends to the team's instructional activities. Team members regularly incorporate research findings into class presentations, guest lectures, and seminars. The team is also committed to community outreach. Both Dias and Steinfeld regularly speak to non-academics and will include aspects of this project in such talks. A final educational outcome will be several planned workshops at our partner organizations and the outcomes from the proposed work are expected to impact operations and methodologies used at these organizations. The assembled team of researchers and partner organizations further enhances the broader impact of this proposal. Principal Investigator Dias is one of the very few female robotics faculty members at the university and in the discipline. She is engaged in many mentoring and leadership activities to encourage and sustain the participation of women in computing and to address the needs of technologically underserved communities. The proposed team of undergraduate students, a graduate student, and a postdoctoral research assistant will also gain significant mentoring and education through their participation in this research. Industry interaction extends beyond regular contact due to faculty involvement in high profile centers. The research and evaluation program is specifically geared towards people with disabilities. Therefore, the contributions of the proposed work will make significant advancements towards realizing the vision of safe and independent travel for people with disabilities. The results of the proposed work will be disseminated broadly through a variety of avenues and all outcomes of the research will be made available in accessible formats to the community partners and their networks.