Human-robot gait coordination and interaction

机器人自动化在我们的生活中扮演着重要的角色，特别是在提高仓库和工厂的生产率和工作场所安全等幕后活动中。然而，它们在个人或家庭应用中提供类似好处的速度一直很慢。一个限制因素是制造能够在人类居住的相同环境中导航的机器的难度。两足行走为实现这种个人机器人同伴提供了非凡的潜力。然而，目前的行走机器人太昂贵或太危险，无法广泛使用。这限制了普通公众和有兴趣改进这些系统的研究人员对它们的可及性。由于缺乏适当的技术，很少有人研究人与机器人配对行走中最基本的交互作用。为了最终实现与人类无缝互动的个人移动机器人同伴，我的创新研究计划将同时解决协调和可访问性问题。*我提议的研究重点是研究人类和机器人成对并肩行走的机械和能量后果。我的短期目标是用可接近的二维制造技术建造动态的行走机器人，并利用这些机器人来获得以前无法实现的人与人和人与机器人配对行走的见解。HQP将接受人体受试者测试程序方面的培训，包括运动测量和分析以及机电一体化系统设计。具体的研究包括通过干扰机器人的步频和腿长来控制在配对行走过程中选择首选步态模式的机制，比较人类在使用腿部系统和轮式系统时的步态行为，以及确定机器人是否会影响人类以正常或不正常的步态行走。这个项目只是理解和利用人与机器人步态互动的长期努力的开始，这将使广泛的领域受益。在机器人学方面，项目成果将展示具有成本效益的设计策略，以帮助降低研究人员参与研究腿部运动的门槛。生物机械师将更深入地了解成对行走过程中人类行为的决定因素，这些见解可能有助于步态康复。对于普通公众来说，无处不在的基于机器人的劳动力可以将人类从危险、关键或平凡的任务中解放出来，从而创造社会经济效益。对加拿大来说，这可能包括伐木和采矿等重要经济活动。随着该国人口继续快速老龄化，这些可移动的机器人同伴可以通过提供负担得起的24小时护理来帮助老年人。根据我的研究计划，通过两足行走机器人同伴可能给社会和科学带来的机会和好处，以前还被想象为虚构的，现在将更接近现实。

Robotic automation plays an important role in our lives, especially in behind-the-scenes activities like improving productivity and workplace safety in warehouses and factories. However, they have been slow to provide similar benefits in personal or domestic applications. One limiting factor is the difficulty in building machines that can navigate the same environments humans inhabit. Bipedal walking offers remarkable potential for implementing such personal robot companions. However, current walking robots are too expensive or dangerous to be deployed for widespread use. This limits their accessibility to the general public and to researchers interested in improving those systems. Due to the lack of appropriate technology, few have examined even the most basic interactions in human-robot paired walking. To finally enable personal, ambulatory robot companions that interact seamlessly with humans, my innovative research program will address both problems of coordination and accessibility.******My proposed research focuses on investigating the mechanical and energetic consequences of paired side-by-side walking with humans and robots. My short-term goals are to build dynamic, walking robots with approachable, two-dimensional manufacturing techniques and to exploit these robots to gain previously unattainable insights into paired human-human and human-robot walking. HQPs will be trained in human subject testing procedures, including movement measurement and analysis, and mechatronics system design. Specific research investigations include the mechanisms governing the selection of preferred gait patterns during paired walking by perturbing robot step frequency and leg length, comparing human gait behavior when walking with a legged system versus a wheeled system, and determining if robots can influence humans to walk with normal or abnormal gaits.******This program is just the beginning of a long effort to understand and leverage human-robot gait interaction, which will benefit a broad range of fields. In robotics, program outcomes will demonstrate cost-effective design strategies to help lower the barrier to entry for researchers to participate in studying legged locomotion. Biomechanists will develop a deeper understanding of the determinants of human behavior during paired walking, insights which could aid gait rehabilitation. For the general public, a ubiquitous robot-based workforce can create socio-economic benefits by liberating humans from dangerous, critical, or mundane tasks. For Canada, this could include important economic activities such as logging and mining. As the country's population continues to age rapidly, these ambulatory robot companions could be employed to assist the elderly, by providing affordable, 24-hour care. Following my research program, the opportunities and benefits to society and science that are possible through bipedal walking robot companions, that have only before been envisioned as fiction, will move closer to reality.