Program

08:45 - 09:00

Welcome and introduction

09:00 - 09:30

Norihiro Hagita
ATR IRC Laboratories, Japan

Title: Autonomous Robotic Services with Communication-Aware and Human-Aware Constrains in Human Environments
Abstract: This talk introduces recent works on autonomous robotic navigation with communication-aware and human-aware constrains in human environments, i.e. shopping mall, food court,etc. Highly dynamic attenuation of spatial signal strength often leads to disruption in flow of information on map and potential danger like collision. A robotic navigation system is developed to cope with the problem. It also considers the ELSE (Ethical, Legal, Social and Economic) issues related to “AI R&D Principles and Guidelines” by Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the Government of Japan with the cooperation to international organization, such as OECD. Experimental results and the ELSE challenges will be introduced.

09:30 - 10:00

Christopher T. Ray
Texas Woman's University, Dallas, USA

Title: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Data for Improved Clinical Monitoring and Trigger for Patient Interventions
Abstract: Gait parameters denote specific disease pathology and current utilized thresholds via cross-sectional analyses serve to triage patients. However, the opportunity for greater sensitivity exists. Current technology now allows for the monitoring of daily changes in gait characteristics. Thus, it is imperative that researchers play a vital role in guiding the development of software that can appropriately determine and “alert” medical professionals to needed clinical interventions. Development of such models will lead to improved aging-in-place methods for managing high-risk patients. Therefore, the purpose of this session is to illustrate how longitudinal modeling of gait can potentially detect events that are connected to physiological functioning. Specifically, this session will highlight how this approach will help develop clinical triggers from subject-specific changes in spatio-temporal gait as a function of aging. This paradigm shift in remote clinical modeling will lead to an enhanced and higher-quality “healthcare” model when compared to the more common cross-sectional thresholding model for sick care.

10:00 - 10:15

S. Guegan, A. Baudry, M. Babel - contributed paper
INSA Rennes, France

Title: Characterizing the passive caster wheel kinematics to enhance a driving assistance for powered wheelchairs
Abstract: The driving experience of an electric powered wheelchair can be disturbed by the dynamic and kinematic effects of the passive caster wheels, particularly during maneuvers in narrow rooms and direction changes. In order to prevent their nasty behaviour, we propose, in this paper, a caster wheel behavior model based on experimental measurements. The study has been realized for the three existing types of wheelchair, which present different kinematic behaviors, i.e. front caster type, rear caster type and mid-wheel drive. The orientation of the caster wheels has been measured experimentally for different initial orientations, velocities and user mass, according to a predefined experimental design. The repeatability of the motions has been studied, and from these measurements, their behavior has been modeled. By using this model with the wheelchairs' kinematic expressions, we are able to calculate the real trajectory of the wheelchair to enhance an existing driving assistance system.

10:15 - 10:30

S. Olatunji, V. Fleischmann-Serna, S. Honig, H. Zaichyk, T. Markovich, T. Oron-Gilad, Y. Edan - contributed paper
Ben-Gurion University, Israel

Title: User preferences for socially acceptable person-following robots: environmental influence case studies
Abstract: Person-following is an important aspect in many service robotic applications whilst supporting a person in performing daily tasks. Few studies have actively worked towards making person-following behavior usable, pleasurable or personal. As such, user studies are essential for promoting the interaction design, and increase user satisfaction and acceptance. A specific experimental setup for studying of socially acceptable person-following preferences and algorithmic design is presented here. In six user studies (171 participants in total) following related factors were examined, of those, two related to environmental influence are specified here. Objective and subjective measurement of the quality of the interaction and user satisfaction were taken. Results and implications are discussed.

10:30 - 10:45

Poster teasers (6 x 2 min.)

Slot 1:
1) R. Paulin, T. Fraichard, P. Reignier (Grenoble INP & INRIA Grenoble, France) - Human-Robot Motion: Taking Human Attention into Account
2) R. Hachiuma, Y. Ozasa, A. Yorozu (Keio Univ., Japan) - Socially Adaptive Manner for Motion Planning from Human Server in Cafe
3) J.C. Arceo, J. Lauber, E. Simoneau, S. Cremoux (Univ. of Valenciennes, France) - Nonlinear Controller Design for Robotic Assistive Therapy

Slot 2:
4) C. Martinez, J. Fong, M. Tavakoli (Univ. of Alberta, Canada) - Learning from a Therapist: Robotics- vs Telerobotics-mediated Hands-on Teaching
5) N. Fitter, M. Matarić (Univ. of Southern California, USA) -
Increasing Self-Awareness for Telepresence Robot Users
6) I. Pakrasi, A. LaViers (Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA) -
An Expressive Layer for Mobile Robots

10:45 - 11:30

Coffee break and poster session

11:30 - 12:00

Tom Carlson
Aspire-CREATE, University College London, UK

Title: Shared Control: Empowering Disabled Users of Assistive Robotic Technologies
Abstract: Novel assistive robotic technologies are emerging that aim to help people with mobility impairments achieve a greater degree of independence. We explore the progress made in shared control systems, whereby these assistive robotic technologies (smart wheelchairs, robotic exoskeletons etc.) are able to perceive their surrounding environment and understand the context in which users are operating, so that they can help them achieve their goals safely and effectively. The control strategy is also inherently dependent upon the type of user interface employed, so we also characterise the implications of various interfaces, from the popular joystick and head array to the more obscure sip-and-puff switch and even brain-computer interfaces. Finally, we look at how we can adapt such assistive robotic technologies to reflect the ever-evolving needs and capabilities of the user and further how we can deal with conflict between the user’s input and the system’s control signals.

12:00 - 12:30

Domenico Prattichizzo
SIRSLab, University of Siena, Italy

Title: Wearable Haptics and Assistive Technology
Abstract: Wearable haptics is an emerging research trend that will enable novel forms of communication and cooperation between humans and robots. The literature on wearable haptics has been mainly focused on vibrotactile stimulation and only recently wearable devices conveying richer stimuli, like forces, have been proposed. In this talk, I will introduce design guidelines for wearable haptics and will review the research in this field. Thanks to wearable haptics the paradigm shift in human-robot cooperation is extraordinary. Wearable haptics is an emerging research trend that will enable novel forms of communication and cooperation between humans and robots. The literature on wearable haptics has been mainly focused on vibrotactile stimulation and only recently wearable devices conveying richer stimuli, like forces, have been proposed. In this talk, I will introduce design guidelines for wearable haptics and will review the research in this field. Thanks to wearable haptics the paradigm shift in human-robot cooperation is extraordinary. The synergistic use of wearable haptics and wearable robotics provides independence and improves quality of life of people with impairments in the course of their daily living activities.

12:30 - 12:45

A. Moyon, K. Subrin, B. Furet - contributed paper
LS2N, Ecole Centrale de Nantes, France

Title: Acceptation criteria of a movable cobot for polishing activities in naval industries
Abstract: Naval industry is in mutation. Traditional operations such as polishing are today manually performed. This leads to musculoskeletal disorders and many ways are currently investigated to improve the working conditions. Even if exoskeletons or cobots were proposed few years ago, their integration in France is limited. In order to help the operator in its job, a movable cobot was designed to perform simple and tiring polishing activities where the operator has a low added value. This paper deals with a methodology to identify, analyze and measure the acceptability factors of the movable cobot to help the operator in its activity.

12:45 - 13:00

P. Schmaus, N. Y. Lii, A.S. Bauer, D. Leidner - contributed paper
Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics, DLR, Germany

Title: Apply Space Robotics Technology to Care for Humans on Earth
Abstract: As the human population nowadays continue to get older, supporting people in need of care becomes a major challenge for the society. Service robots can be a key technology to enable more people to maintain longer, independent, and fruitful lives. In order to deploy such service robots, the robots must provide autonomous capabilities with an easy-to-use interface for remote and local robot command. Similar requirements can be found for future robotic coworkers in the space domain to support the work of astronauts. In the METERON SUPVIS Justin space robotics experiment suite, we investigate the use of service robots for future extraterrestrial deployment commanded from an astronaut on-board an orbiting spacecraft. The technologies developed for these experiments are adapted for the use on Earth and validated in the context of the SMiLE project. In this work, we present the resulting system and demonstrate the use of the system in a realistic household setting.

13:00 - 14:30

Lunch break

14:30 - 15:00

Vincent Padois
ISIR, Sorbonne University, France

Title: Human-Robot Physical Interaction: An Energetic and Constrained Control Approach to Safety
Abstract: One of the primary requirements for robots sharing their workspace and potentially physically interacting with humans is safety. In traditional robotics applications, safety is ensured by physically separating the robots from potentially dynamic and unpredictable elements of the environment, including humans. This separation allows to plan motions off-line and ensure a priori that all constraints related to safety and technical limitations will be met at run time. When considering open and dynamic environments, neither physical separation nor the possibility to ensure constraints compliance a priori can help at guaranteeing safety. Thus, safety must be explicitly enforced as a constraint at all time. In this presentation, we present a generic formulation of control problems in robotics which allows to explicitly and reactively account for safety constraints. These constraints are formulated as constraints on the robot energy and the proposed formulation allows for safe planned or unplanned human-robot physical interaction without compromising performances or requiring specific control laws adaptation.

15:00 - 15:30

B. Narin, M. Brian, W. Smart
CoRIS Institute, Oregon State University, USA

Title: A Critical Look at Smart Wheelchairs
Abstract: Research into smart wheelchairs has been conducted for decades, but we have yet to see the widespread use of this technology among full-time wheelchair users. We argue that the main reason for this is that there is a mismatch between research and the actualities of using a powered mobility device in the real world. Based on our own research experiences, we enumerate some of these disparities, and offer some suggestions for where work in smart wheelchairs might focus in the coming years.

15:30 - 16:00

Markus Vincze
Vision for Robotics laboratory, TU Wien, Austria

Title: Robots at Home: The Gap between User Needs and Robot Capabilities
Abstract: In the near future service robots will start to enter our homes. Fact is that today there is a big gap between expectations of people and what robots can provide today. Care for older adults at home includes ADLs (Activities of Daily Living) such as hygiene, dressing or help with getting up. All these are close to impossible for robots. On the other hand, first robots are moving around at home. An example is Hobbit, which is likely the robot that has been the longest in 18 user homes for a total of one year. Letting users play with the robot, many data was collected that gives hints on what users would want to see. Robot capabilities ranked very high are emergency functions, picking up things from the floor, fitness and entertainment to keep users active. These capabilities may be an entry point for robots into homes. Considerable more R&D will be need to provide robot ADL capabilities to users.

16:00 - 16:30

Coffee break

16:30 - 17:00

Jan Babic
Laboratory for Neuromechanics and Robotics, JSI, Slovenia

Title: SPEXOR: Spinal Exoskeletal Robot for Low Back Pain Prevention and Vocational Reintegration
Abstract: The objective of SPEXOR (www.spexor.eu) is to address low back pain as one of the most appealing health problems of the modern society by creating a body of scientific and technological knowledge in the multidisciplinary areas of biomechanics, robotics, and computer science that will lead to technologies for low back pain prevention. In the talk I will give you an overview of the current state-of-art of SPEXOR that we achieved in the first half of the project. After introducing the rationale, I will walk you through the topics that include biomechanics of low back pain, development of the musculoskeletal stress monitoring for assessment of neuromuscular trunk functions, modeling and optimization of the interaction of spinal exoskeleton with the human body, electromechanical design and development of the spinal exoskeleton and its control, and finally the end-user evaluation of the functional effects, usability and satisfaction.

17:00 - 17:30

Auke Ijspeert
Biorobotics Laboratory, EPFL, Switzerland

Title: From Neuromechanical Models of Human Locomotion to Bioinspired Controllers for Lower Limb Exoskeletons
Abstract: The talk will present progress in developing neuromechanical models of human locomotion, i.e. numerical models of the musculoskeletal system and neural circuits in the spinal cord. It will then present some results of how these models can be used as bioinspired controllers for biped robots and for lower limb exoskeletons. In particular, results of assisting locomotion of paraplegic patients with fixed-based and wearable exoskeletons will be presented. This is joint work between several European laboratories within the European Symbitron project.

17:30 - 18:00

Round table and closing