Towards Effective, Safe, and Affordable Robots for Assisting People at Home and Work

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For applications such as assisting older adults and people with disabilities, rehabilitation, agriculture, and assisting factory workers, there is a unmet need for affordable robots, and robot arms in particular, that can operate safely when close to, or in direct contact with, people. Perhaps the greatest need for this technology in Canada will be to assist seniors at home. According to a 2017 CBC News article written by Mark Gollom, the demand for home care is projected to grow by 3.1%/year until 2026, while home care workers will only increase by 1%/year. The article states that "technology, including robotics and artificial intelligence that can aid senior residents, will need to play a significant role." Currently available robot arms that provide the required functionality and safety are not affordable (costing $50K or more). One of main reasons for their high price is the actuators used to move their joints.     The long-term vision of this research program is to create knowledge and technologies enabling robots to help people in many aspects of their daily lives, whether at home or at work. These robots must be capable of controlling the positions of the objects they carry, and the forces they apply to objects. The latter is necessary for performing work tasks such as helping to assemble fragile parts, or home tasks such as helping to prepare a meal (e.g. slicing a tomato). Our long-term goals are to: replace the existing robot actuators with safe and affordable alternatives; develop robots that are energy efficient, and light enough to be easily transported; and develop hardware methods and software algorithms for effectively controlling these robots.     Over the next 5 years the research program will focus on developing novel robot actuators that are low cost, lightweight, powerful, precise, and safe even if a sensor fails. We will accomplish this by combining our pneumatic actuator that can lift over 100 times its own weight with a small and fast-acting electric motor. We will develop improved methods for fabricating our pneumatic actuator. We will then develop methods for optimizing the designs of the actuator, and of a robot arm powered by these actuators, to perform better and use less energy. We will also develop mathematical models and software algorithms for controlling the new actuators and robot arm. The prototype robot arms will be tested with common home and work tasks, e.g. carrying and pouring from a full jug of milk. Four Ph.D. students, four Master's students and five undergraduate students will be trained in this research program. They will receive specialized training in robotics, design, manufacturing, modelling and control systems that will benefit them in their future careers. In the next 15 or 20 years it is expected that this research program, and related research programs, will lead to affordable robots effective at helping people both at home and work.