NRI: Small: Assistive Robots for Blind Travelers

NRI：小型：盲人旅行者辅助机器人

• 批准号: 1317989
• 负责人: Aaron Steinfeld
• 金额: $ 96.26万
• 依托单位: Carnegie-Mellon University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-09-01 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1317989&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NRI; Small; Assistive; Robots; Blind

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.

PI：Dias，M.Bernadine；Steinfeld，Aaron Proposal编号：1317989摘要：随着机器人技术的发展到合作机器人成为现实的阶段，我们需要确保它们同样能够与残疾人类互动。拟议的工作通过探索为盲人旅行者提供辅助机器人的背景下有意义的人-机器人交互来应对这一挑战。对于残疾人来说，独立交通仍然是就业和生活质量的主要障碍。此外，紧急情况下需要疏散是他们面临的最大恐惧之一。我们在拟议的工作中寻求回答的关键问题是：协作机器人在使残疾人能够安全地旅行到陌生环境和导航方面发挥什么作用？我们假设，协同机器人可以帮助这些旅行者有效地在陌生的城市环境中导航，并在疏散时提供支持，从而增强他们的安全性和独立性。我们从需求评估开始我们的拟议工作，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。智能优点：拟议的工作探索了三个主要研究领域，适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物疏散。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：机器人使用感知、机器人定位和众包的组合来帮助人类在必要的分辨率和上下文中进行定位；机器人帮助人类找回丢失或坠落的物体或定位感兴趣的物体或人；机器人帮助人类与环境的其他方面交互，例如阅读通知；以及机器人在建筑物紧急疏散期间帮助人类。我们还将探索如何让这些旅行者“教”机器人做他们感兴趣的任务。机器人将不得不智能地推理任务在它们之间的分配，并在需要时与人类进行协调。总体而言，拟议的研究将大大促进关于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。拟议研究的独特性体现在界面的可访问性、互动方式的丰富性以及合作机制的灵活性和范围。这些贡献的结合将极大地推动辅助技术以及人机交互方面的最先进水平。广泛的影响：该团队对本科生的研究经验有着强烈的承诺。由首席调查员和联合首席调查员指导的学生中，超过75%是妇女、少数族裔或残疾人士。这一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定期与非学术界人士交谈，并将在这样的谈话中包括这个项目的各个方面。最后的教育成果将是在我们的伙伴组织举办几个计划举办的讲习班，预计拟议工作的成果将影响这些组织使用的业务和方法。由研究人员和伙伴组织组成的团队进一步加强了这一提议的更广泛影响。首席研究员迪亚斯是该大学和该学科极少数的女性机器人教职员工之一。她参与了许多指导和领导活动，以鼓励和维持妇女对计算机的参与，并满足技术服务不足社区的需要。拟由本科生、研究生和博士后研究助理组成的团队也将通过参与这项研究获得重要的指导和教育。由于高调中心的教职员工参与，行业互动超越了常规接触。该研究和评估方案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自主出行的愿景方面取得重大进展。拟议工作的结果将通过各种途径广泛传播，所有研究结果将以可获得的形式提供给社区伙伴及其网络。