EAGER: Human Arm Impedance Modulation During Overground Physical Interactions

以类似人类的方式与人类进行物理交互的机器人可能会在医疗保健和康复领域产生有影响力的应用。然而，人们对身体互动如何传达伴侣之间的目标和意图知之甚少。这个探索性研究（EAGER）项目支持开发一种移动交互式机器人，该机器人将支持人类如何调节手臂阻抗以在伙伴行走期间交流意图的基础研究。通过研究一个人如何在握住交互式机器人的“手”的同时与它同行，这项研究将增加我们对人类如何沟通和感知与运动方向和速度有关的线索的理解。这一新的知识将导致安全、有效和互动机器人的发展，这些机器人可以部署在任何需要指导的地方，比如医院、养老院、体育训练或工厂生产线上。因此，这项研究的结果将有利于美国的医疗保健、经济和社会。该项目将包括一个教育部分，为研究生和本科生提供工程和研究方法培训，并为高中生和中学生提供STEM推广。将进一步努力吸引和留住代表性不足的个人进入科学和工程领域。本研究开发了一种新型机器人，旨在通过物理力量与人类伴侣交流意图。方法包括设备开发，机器人控制算法的开发，以及静止和运动物体的物体阻抗的询问。所实施的系统将通过人类受试者实验进行验证，该实验涉及人类/机器人在地上行走时的手臂阻抗估计。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

A robot that physically interacts with humans in a human-like way may lead to impactful applications in healthcare and rehabilitation. However, little is known about how physical interactions can communicate goals and intent between partners. This EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) project supports development of a mobile interactive robot that will support fundamental research into how humans may modulate arm impedance to communicate intent during partnered ambulation. By studying how a person walks alongside the interactive robot while holding its "hand", this research will add to our understanding of how humans communicate and sense cues pertaining to movement direction and speed. The new knowledge will lead to the development of safe, effective and interactive robots that can be deployed wherever a guiding hand is needed, such as in hospitals, nursing homes, in sports training, or on factory lines. As such, the results of this research will benefit the US healthcare, economy, and society. The project will involve an educational component that provides engineering and research methods training to graduate and undergraduate students, as well as STEM outreach to high-school and middle-school students. Additional efforts will be made to attract and retain underrepresented individuals into careers in science and engineering.This research develops a novel robot intended to communicate intent with a human partner through physical forces. Methods include device development, development of robotic control algorithms, and the interrogation of object impedance of stationary and moving objects. The implemented system will be validated through human subjects experimentation involving human arm impedance estimation during over-ground human/robot partnered walking.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.