Flexible Control Authority With a Robotic Arm: Facilitating Seamless Transitions Between User and Robot Control in Multi-Action Manipulation Tasks.

机械臂的灵活控制权限：促进多动作操作任务中用户和机器人控制之间的无缝过渡。

• 批准号: 10637707
• 负责人: Breelyn Styler
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10637707
• 关键词: Activities of Daily Living; Address; Agreement; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis; Authorization documentation; Automobile Driving; Awareness; Back; Behavior; Benchmarking; Caregiver support; Caregivers; Caring; Clinical; Cognitive; Communities; Complex; Computer software; Decision Making; Development; Diagnosis; Environment; Evaluation; Event; Family; Family Caregiver; Family member; Feedback; Fill-It; Future; Goals; Hand; Hand functions; Home environment; Impairment; Individual; Industry; Intelligence; Interruption; Intuition; Investments; Joystick; K-Series Research Career Programs; Left; Literature; Manuals; Measures; Methodology; Military Personnel; Modeling; Modification; Monitor; Movement; Multiple Sclerosis; Nature; Performance; Persons; Phase; Population; Positioning Attribute; Powered wheelchair; Preparation; Principal Investigator; Process; Psyche structure; Quadriplegia; Quality of life; Reporting; Research Design; Robot; Robotics; Role; Rotation; Self Care; Self-Help Devices; Surveys; System; Techniques; Technology; Time; Training; United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration; Upper Extremity; Veterans; Vision; Voice; Water; Wheelchairs; Work; Workload; Wrist; algorithm development; arm; arm function; arm movement; assistive robot; authority; career; cognitive ability; design; disability; drinking; empowerment; experience; flexibility; human subject; human-robot interaction; improved; indexing; innovation; iterative design; microwave electromagnetic radiation; military service; operation; predictive modeling; preference; recruit; robot assistance; robot control; robot rehabilitation; robotic device; service member; smart home; success; technology platform; tool; usability

This proposal discusses the development and evaluation of a collaborative Assistive Robotic Manipulator (ARM) which allows the Veteran to preference control authority (user moving the arm versus robot software moving the arm) at any point in a multi-action task: flexible control authority (FlexCA). Veterans with tetraplegia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and multiple sclerosis (MS) can readily access electric power wheelchairs (EPWs) for their mobility needs but are still limited in performing manipulation tasks. Current options for manipulation assistance include low tech specialized manipulation tools, modifications of the environment, caregiver support, and robotic arms. ARMs for EPW users are capable of a variety of functions but are unintuitive to control. Manually driving the control input for an ARM requires reasoning about many different modes for moving the arm in three directions, rotating the arm’s wrist in three directions, and opening and closing the gripper. The addition of more intelligent robot software assistance can ease control burdens but should also adapt to a user’s changing abilities, preferences, and contexts. Previous work pre-assigns control authority, which creates a rigid order of actions that causes unexpected behavior if the user decides to interrupt the system. This career development award (CDA-1) addresses an unforeseen challenge, the ability to allow the user to change their control authority preference by creating a seamless transition between manual control and robot autonomous operation both within and between different functional task actions. This is achieved through a development aim and an evaluation aim. The first aim is to develop the FlexCA assistive dialogue control system for ARMs that tracks the user state within a kitchen task allowing the Veteran to initiate control authority. The first goal of this aim is to infer the current state within a multi-action task regardless of how the robot is controlled. This is formulated as a sequential stochastic state model that leverages environment observations and user input to successfully monitor and estimate the state allowing the robotic software to seamlessly pick up wherever the user leaves off. Input and feedback from the system is initiated through the development of a voice-activated user interface. The system is evaluated in two phases. The first phase involves a representative user that actively participates in the iterative design process, and a group of benchmark users. The second phase evaluates the FlexCA system among Veterans with limited arm function who use EPWs. Veterans are recruited to provide objective performance measures and subjective assessments of usability and task workload. This work empowers Veterans with upper limb impairment to perform realistic functional tasks with an ARM. By achieving our aims, algorithmic developments can be generalized towards other assistive devices, and inform future models for more appropriately matching assistive systems that adapt to the user positively impacting their quality of life. This CDA-1 provides training experience in assistive technology, clinical methodology, and human robot interaction that bridges the candidate’s previous experience in robotics and software industry with the development of assistive technology to increase Veteran independence. Immediate goals include constructing user-centric driven technology specific to rehabilitation robotics and assistive devices and understanding the methodology of human subject study design. Long-term career goals include future work as a principal investigator on topics that merge probabilistic techniques, such as predictive modeling and stochastic decision making, for more context-aware and user-centric assistive technology platforms that include smart home environments, robotic wheelchairs, and robotic assistive arms.

本提案讨论了协作式辅助机器人机械手的开发和评估 (ARM)这允许退伍军人优先选择控制权限（用户移动手臂与机器人软件 移动手臂）在多动作任务中的任何点：灵活控制权限（FlexCA）。退伍军人 四肢瘫痪、肌萎缩侧索硬化症（ALS）和多发性硬化症（MS）可以很容易地获得电力 轮椅（EPWs）的移动性需求，但在执行操作任务仍然受到限制。电流 操作辅助的选项包括低技术专业操作工具、 环境、护理人员支持和机器人手臂。EPW用户的ARM具有多种功能 但控制起来不直观。手动驱动ARM的控制输入需要推理许多 在三个方向上移动手臂，在三个方向上旋转手臂的手腕， 并关闭夹持器。更多智能机器人软件辅助的加入可以减轻控制负担 而且还应该适应用户不断变化的能力、偏好和环境。以前的工作预先分配 控制权限，它创建了一个严格的操作顺序，如果用户决定 中断系统。这个职业发展奖（CDA-1）解决了一个不可预见的挑战，能力 允许用户通过创建手动和手动之间的无缝转换来更改其控制权限首选项， 在不同功能任务动作内和之间的控制和机器人自主操作。这是 通过发展目标和评价目标实现。第一个目标是开发FlexCA辅助 一种用于ARM的对话控制系统，它跟踪厨房任务中的用户状态，允许退伍军人启动 控制权。这个目标的第一个目标是推断多动作任务中的当前状态，而不管 机器人是如何被控制的这是制定为一个顺序的随机状态模型，利用 环境观察和用户输入，以成功地监测和估计允许机器人 软件无缝地拿起用户离开的地方。启动来自系统的输入和反馈 通过开发语音激活的用户界面。该系统分两个阶段进行评估。第一 阶段涉及一个积极参与迭代设计过程的代表性用户，以及一组 基准用户。第二阶段在手臂功能受限的退伍军人中评估FlexCA系统 使用EPWs的人招募退伍军人提供客观的绩效衡量标准， 可用性和任务工作量的评估。这项工作使上肢受损的退伍军人能够 通过实现我们的目标，算法开发可以 推广到其他辅助设备，并为未来的模型提供更适当的匹配 辅助系统，适应用户积极影响他们的生活质量。 该CDA-1提供辅助技术，临床方法和人类的培训经验 机器人互动，将候选人之前在机器人和软件行业的经验与 开发辅助技术，以提高退伍军人的独立性。近期目标包括建设 以用户为中心的驱动技术，具体到康复机器人和辅助设备，并了解 人类受试者研究设计方法。长期的职业目标包括将来作为校长的工作 研究融合概率技术的主题，如预测建模和随机决策 制造更多的上下文感知和以用户为中心的辅助技术平台，包括智能家居 环境，机器人轮椅和机器人辅助手臂。