Robot Enhanced Mobility: The Capacity for Your Infants to Learn Real World Navigation, and its Effect on Perception, Action and Cognition Development

婴儿的发展是从对世界的探索中产生的。在最初的6个月里，婴儿使用他们的伸展和抓取作为工具来探索附近的空间。到了第一年，独立的行动能力出现了，他们使用爬行和行走来探索遥远的地方。毫不奇怪，独立行动能力与认知发展和学习能力的广泛进步有关。这个研究小组之前用操纵杆驱动的机器人增强的移动设备的研究表明，小婴儿在走路前几个月可能有学习能力和动力来移动。这个目前的项目将正式测试幼儿是否有能力接受驾驶移动机器人的培训，并将确定这些早期行动经验对他们发育的影响。具体地说，该项目将纵向跟踪婴儿的导航技能和一般发展，因为他们正在接受驾驶移动机器人的培训，该机器人旨在帮助他们学习，维护他们的安全，并记录他们的驾驶表现。该项目的更广泛影响源于机器人技术和婴儿发展的独特合作。从科学上讲，该项目将为未来研究早期活动对婴儿学习和发育的影响提供基础数据库。该项目还将推进受发展启发的机器人的设计，并为有效与幼儿互动的机器人的设计和建造提供指南。在教育方面，该项目将促进工程学和儿童发展专业学生之间的创造性合作。此外，机器人和婴儿的互动将被用作一个模型，让不同年龄的学生接触到科学和工程的乐趣、兴奋和满足感。具体活动包括机器人设计课程，包括全校设计大赛、高中教师短期课程、儿童保育提供者研讨会、康复机器人网络广播研讨会，以及关于发展灵感的机器人视频/CD-ROM。重点将放在让代表不足的群体接触科学发现方面。最后，该项目具有治疗效果。由于严重的大脑或骨骼疾病而不能行走的婴儿必须等到他们3岁，如果不大很多，才能获得电动轮椅。这个以典型发育中的婴儿为对象的项目将为一项大型研究铺平道路，该研究将在生命的第一年内为有特殊需要的婴儿提供安全、有趣和有效的活动能力，以进行现实世界的探索。

An infant's development emerges from exploration of the world. Over the first 6 months, infants use their reaching and grasping as the tools to explore nearby spaces. By the first year, independent mobility emerges and they use crawling and walking to explore distant locations. Not surprisingly, independent mobility is linked to widespread advances in cognitive development and learning abilities. Previous work by this research team with a joystick-driven, robot-enhanced mobility device suggests that young infants may have the learning ability and motivation to be mobile months before they walk. This current project will formally test whether young infants have the capacity to be trained to drive a mobile robot, and will determine the effects of these early experiences with mobility on their development. Specifically, the project will longitudinally track infants' navigation skill and general development as they are trained to drive a mobile robot, which is designed to aid their learning, maintain their safety and record their driving performance.The broader impacts of this project stem from the unique collaboration of robotics and infant development. Scientifically, this project will provide the foundational database for future studies of the effects of early mobility on infant learning and development. This project will also advance the design of developmentally inspired robotics, and provide guideposts for the design and construction of robots that effectively interact with young children. Educationally, the project will foster creative collaborations between students of engineering and child development. Furthermore, the interaction of robots and infants will be used as a model to expose students of various ages to the fun, excitement and satisfaction of science and engineering. Specific activities include robotics design classes including a campus-wide design contest, short course for high school teachers, seminar for child care providers, web cast seminars in rehabilitation robotics, and a video/CD-ROM on developmentally inspired robotics. A focus will be on exposing under-represented groups to the discovery of science. Finally, the project has therapeutic impacts. Infants who will not walk due to severe brain or bone disorders must wait until they are 3 years of age, if not much older, before a power wheelchair is available. This project with typically developing infants will pave the way for a large study of the developmental effects of providing special needs infants with safe, fun and effective mobility for real world exploration within the first year of life.