EFRI-M3C: Partnered Rehabilitative Movement: Cooperative Human-robot Interactions for Motor Assistance, Learning, and Communication

我们的愿景是开发护理机器人，在功能运动活动中与人类进行流畅灵活的互动，同时提供运动辅助，增强和交流，以促进运动学习。然而，我们目前缺乏理论来理解康复和运动治疗师如何提供及时和适当的身体反馈和帮助，以改善运动障碍患者的活动能力。为了开发可以作为助手和运动治疗师陪伴个人的设备，我们的目标是研究人类在与人形辅助机器人进行合作物理交互时的运动协调。我们将使用康复伙伴舞蹈作为一个范例来检验与行走和其他功能性运动活动相关的合作性身体互动的感觉运动理论。我们将使用一个“伙伴箱步”，一个约束和定义的模式的重量转移和方向的变化，作为一个合作的物理互动与welldefinedmotorgoals.Objectives的范例：1）实验验证人类感觉运动控制和学习的层次理论和2）开发预测模型的全身人体运动与机器的合作物理互动。在四年的时间里，我们将通过展示机器人作为领导者或跟随者成功参与方块步来测试我们的模型，并使其运动适应人类伙伴的运动技能水平。智力优势：我们的工作将提供变革性的实验、理论和实践跨学科框架，这些框架将为自主合作机器人开辟新的道路，并改善不同运动能力的人的运动技能。这些进步将有助于假肢和机器人的设计，并可能促进我们对大脑的理解。更广泛的影响：预期的项目成果将通过改善健身，运动技能和社会参与对数百万美国人的生活质量产生长期影响。应用包括医疗保健设备或娱乐和改善健身的运动机器人。我们将为老年人生活社区和有运动障碍的人群提供与运动相关的问题和康复舞蹈指导的研讨会。这项工作的广泛吸引力和社会性质可能会获得媒体的宣传，从而增加公众对科学和技术的兴趣。

Our vision is to develop caregiver robots that interact fluidly and flexibly with humans during functionalmotor activities, while providing motor assistance, enhancement, and communication to facilitate motorlearning. However, we currently lack theories to understand how rehabilitation and movement therapistsprovide timely and appropriate physical feedback and assistance to improve mobility in individuals withmotor impairments. To develop devices that could accompany an individual as both assistant andmovement therapist, our goal is to study human motor coordination during cooperative physicalinteractions with a humanoid assistive robot. We will use rehabilitative partner dance as a paradigm toexamine a sensory-motor theory of cooperative physical interactions relevant to walking and otherfunctional motor activities. We will use a "partnered box step", a constrained and defined pattern ofweight shifts and directional changes, as a paradigm for a cooperative physical interaction with welldefinedmotor goals.Objectives: To 1) experimentally verify a hierarchical theory of human sensory-motor control andlearning and 2) develop predictive models of whole-body human movement for cooperative physicalinteractions with machines. Over four years, we will test our models by demonstrating the successfulparticipation of the robot in a box step as leader or follower and adapt its movements to the motor skilllevel of a human partner.Intellectual Merit: Our work will provide transformative experimental, theoretical, and practicalinterdisciplinary frameworks that will forge new paths toward autonomous cooperative robots withphysical intelligence to enhance, assist, and improve motor skills in humans with varying motorcapabilities. These advances will aid prosthetic and robotic design and may advance our understanding ofthe brain.Broader Impacts: The expected project outcomes would have long-term impact on the quality of life ofmillions of Americans by improving fitness, motor skills, and social engagement. Applications includehealthcare devices or sports robots that entertain and improve fitness. We will provide seminars onmobility-related issues and rehabilitative dance instruction to older adult living communities andpopulations with motor impairments. The broad appeal and social nature of this work will likely garnermedia publicity that will increase public interest in science and technology.