Collaborative Research NRI: INT: Scalable, Customizable, Robot Learning with Humans

日常生活活动（ADLs）是自我照顾的基本和常规方面，包括独立吃饭、穿衣、从一个位置换到另一个位置、洗澡和如厕的能力。机器人辅助日常生活活动可以提高残疾人的独立性，提高生活质量，并有助于解决紧迫的社会需求，如人口老龄化、高医疗成本和医疗工作者短缺。虽然这种机器人辅助已经取得了进展，但一个关键的挑战是，许多日常生活活动需要机器人与人协调操作织物。值得注意的是，许多形式的床边辅助包括灵巧地操作床上用品，卫生通常涉及灵巧地操作毛巾和毛巾，穿衣涉及各种各样的衣服。该项目旨在通过机器学习、仿真和可定制人机交互方面的进步，在这一重大挑战上取得基础进展。该项目将为残疾人提供机器人辅助床上用品调整、洗澡和穿衣等新功能。此外，该项目及其参与的研究小组将通过让代表性不足的群体、K-12学生和本科生参与研究和教育，扩大参与范围。本研究旨在开发一个协同机器人框架，以实现家庭辅助的综合任务：可定制的织物操作，特别强调床上用品，洗澡和穿衣，这些在人与机器人之间具有重要的物理交互作用。该项目将沿着三个主要方向取得基础进展，在这一总体综合应用下汇集在一起：(1)从原始感官观察中学习辅助，(2)学习辅助的物理模拟，以及(3)具有人在环反馈的可定制机器人辅助。这里的可定制性是指我们的系统适应每个人的特定偏好和能力的能力。通过开源代码开发和物理模拟，该项目还试图降低进入门槛，为其他人解决可定制家庭辅助的一般问题。总的来说，这项研究将为残疾人开发机器人辅助穿衣、床上用品调整和身体沐浴（卫生）方面的新技术，这有可能帮助数百万人实现更大的独立性和更高的生活质量。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Activities of daily living (ADLs) are both essential and routine aspects of self-care, including the ability to independently eat, dress, transfer from one position to another, bathe, and toilet. Robotic assistance with activities of daily living could increase the independence of people with disabilities, improve quality of life, and help address pressing societal needs, such as aging populations, high healthcare costs, and shortages of healthcare workers. While progress has been made towards such robotic-assistance, a key challenge is that many activities of daily living require robots to manipulate ​fabric in coordination with ​people​. Notably, many forms of bedside assistance include dexterous manipulation of bedding, hygiene often involves dexterous manipulation of washcloths and towels, and dressing involves a diverse array of clothes. This project seeks to make foundational progress on this major challenge through advancements in machine learning, simulation, and customizable human-robot interaction. This project will result in new capabilities in robot-assisted bedding adjustment, bathing, and dressing for people with disabilities. In addition, this project and its participating research groups will broaden participation by engaging under-represented groups, K-12 students, and undergraduates in research and education.This research aims to develop a co-robotic framework towards the Integrative Task: Customizable Fabric Manipulation for Home Assistance, with specific emphasis on bedding, bathing, and dressing, which have significant physical interaction between the human and the robot. This project will make foundational progress along three main thrusts, brought together under this overarching integrative application: (1) Learning to Assist from Raw Sensory Observations, (2) Physics Simulation for Learning Assistance, and (3) Customizable Robotic Assistance with Human-in-the-Loop Feedback. Customizability here refers to the ability of our system to adapt to the specific preferences and abilities of each individual. Through open-sourced code development and physics simulations, this project also seeks to lower the barrier to entry for others to work towards the general problem of customizable home assistance. Overall, this research will develop new techniques in robot-assisted dressing, bedding adjustment, and body bathing (hygiene) for people with disabilities, which has the potential to help millions of people achieve greater independence and a higher quality of life.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.