Title:
Collaboration Between a Robotic Bed and a Mobile Manipulator May Improve Physical Assistance for People with Disabilities
Collaboration Between a Robotic Bed and a Mobile Manipulator May Improve Physical Assistance for People with Disabilities
Author(s)
Kapusta, Ariel
Chitalia, Yash
Park, Daehyung
Kemp, Charles C.
Chitalia, Yash
Park, Daehyung
Kemp, Charles C.
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Abstract
We present a robotic system designed to provide
physical assistance to a person in bed. The system consists
of a robotic bed (Autobed) and a mobile manipulator (PR2)
that work together. The 3 degree-of-freedom (DoF) robotic
bed moves the person’s body and uses a pressure sensing
mat to estimate the body’s position. The mobile manipulator
positions itself with respect to the bed and compliantly moves
a lightweight object with one of its 7-DoF arms. The system
optimizes its motions with respect to a task model and a model
of the human’s body. The user provides high-level supervision
to the system via a web-based interface. We first evaluated the
ability of the robotic bed to estimate the location of the head of a
person in a supine configuration via a study with 7 able-bodied
participants. This estimation was robust to bedding, including
a pillow under the person’s head. We then evaluated the ability
of the full system to autonomously reach task-relevant poses on
a medical mannequin placed in a supine position on the bed.
We found that the robotic bed’s motion and perception each
improved the overall system’s performance. Our results suggest
that this type of multi-robot system could more effectively bring
objects to desired locations with respect to the user’s body than
a mobile manipulator working alone. This may in turn lead to
improved physical assistance for people with disabilities at home
and in healthcare facilities, since many assistive tasks involve
an object being moved with respect to a person’s body.
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Date Issued
2016-08
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