CSE 481: Robotics Capstone, Winter 2019 @cse481wi19news - Tumblr Blog

Robotics researchers at the University of Washington have developed a robotic system that can feed pieces of fruit to humans on command. The work is an early-stage project aimed at helping people who are unable to perform essential tasks live more independently.

Ethan in the news :-)

This week the university opened doors to a new 135,000 square-foot computer science building that will help lay the groundwork for the next 40 years and beyond.

Two of our classmates featured in Geekwire :-)

This video shows the progression of increasingly complex gait strategies from ATRIAS through recent results with Cassie. Specifically, Cassie's controller no...

from: Kiet Sam

A 9th grader from Harbin used a handwriting robot for her winter vacation assignments, as soon as her mother found out, she smashed it into pieces furiously.

Chinese teenager bought a handwriting robot online and used it to finish her homework--a very unexpected way of how robot can enter people's life.

From: Arthur Liang

This japan base humanoid robot called HRP-5P can install drywall. As you can see in this video that robot capable of handling drywall installation. The robot...

From: Kiet Sam

Your next new colleague might be a machine. A tech CEO explains how to get along with robots - and why you might miss them when they go off to charge.

From: Amrutha Gujjar

The company's Scout vehicles join the growing ranks of last-mile delivery robots crawling city streets and college campuses.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed criminal charges Monday against Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of China tech giant Huawei.

#technology

Open wide, because the robots have eyes on your dental work.

A robotic arm from Universal Robotics is being used to implant teeth. The use of robotics in this space is especially cool, considering how precise the movements are. The article mentions that this robotic arm can operate with a precision within 0.3 millimeters, and even account for slight movements of a patients’ head during the procedure, while under anesthetics.

(From Amrutha Gujja)

The effects of increased automation will not be felt equally across the U.S., according to a new study from The Brookings Institution. Workers in Rust Belt centers like Toledo, Ohio are poised to face the biggest job displacement, while those in urban areas like Washington, D.C. are expected to feel less of a burden. Such trends may fuel migration to large cities. Automation is also expected to disproportionately affect younger workers, black and Hispanic employees and men, Brookings notes.

AlphaPilot is the first large-scale open innovation challenge of its kind focused on advancing artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomy.

Here are 10 robotics startups The Robot Report will be watching in 2019. What robotics startups are you excited about for 2019?

Some friends in the list..

#roboticsnews

Maybe succumbing to our mechanical overlords isn't such a bad thing.

Bot Air is a Kuri-sized robot that monitors the air and purifies it. Bot Care is a larger robot that monitors ones vitals and can be used to remind people to take their medication or display helpful videos on it's display like exercises. Bot Retail is a human height robot that is aimed at restaurants or retail stores and is suppose to act like a waiter or store clerk so people can make orders or buy stuff.

(from Kiet Sam)

#roboticsnews

Project idea: Assistive manipulation for children with severe mobility impairments for playing social games

User group: Children with mobility and dexterity impairments due to cerebral palsy, spina bifida, spinal muscular atrophy, Down syndrome, or other causes

Problem: Impairments and delays in mobility and manipulation ability due to a range of conditions can propagate to other areas of development, resulting in secondary impairments in capabilities such as visual perception, spatial awareness, or social communication. These can ultimately lead to exclusion from social play with peers and lifelong consequences. Previous research, has shown that pediatric mobility devices that enable augmented self-directed mobility for mobility-impaired infants as young as 8 months old help mitigate some of the secondary impairments. However, most children with impairments are still left out of play activities designed for their age groups.

Proposed solution: We propose to develop an assistive teleoperation interface for the Fetch robot to enable participation in pretend play in a tea-party scenario. The control interface for the robot will need to be simple and adaptable to the unique needs of the child. The robot will need to be able to manipulate toy kitchenette items (tea pot, tea cups, etcetera). The robot will need to be extremely safe so that another child can be in close proximity to it during play (though we will initially allow only adults to play). The robot should also have communicative actions, acting like a puppet controlled by the child.

eeelaineeewxy

Project idea: Robot for Pouring

People with impaired vision have problems with determining how much liquid is in a cup. Without the help of any technology, they often put their fingers into their glass to determine when to stop pouring the liquid into the container or ask a caregiver to complete this task for them. (Source: 14 Unreal Things You Never Realized Blind People Have To Deal With)

Since drinking water is an essential task people perform multiple times every day, having a robot that pours liquid for them is helpful, especially when the liquid is hot. With the help of a robot, people will no longer need to wet their fingers each time they try to pour some liquid, or potentially get scalded. This will also save time for caregivers. Let’s think of the scenario when it is at the middle of the night, and a visually impaired person is thirsty, if he can manipulate a robot to pour liquid for him, he will no longer need to wake up a family member or mess up the counter. By completing this daily task on their own, visually impaired people can get a sense of independence.

We can use a Fetch robot to perform this task. In order to accurately determine when to stop pouring the liquid, we also need to make special containers (such as mugs for drinking water and bowls for breakfast cereals) to accompany various tasks. The robot also needs a peripheral to get the type of liquid and the amount to pour from the user. This can either be a speech recognition device or a button panel with Braille. Due to various sizes and weights of liquid containers, determining how to lift the container and pour out the liquid from a container is a challenging task for the robot.

There are some existing solutions to this problem such as liquid indicators and the Braun Bell Mug. A liquid indicator is a kind of device which after being attached to the glass, can vibrate or buzz when the liquid approaches the glass top.

(Image of a liquid indicator. Source: Liquid Level Indicators, Liquid Level Sensors)

The image below shows the instructions of Bell Mug. According to Andrew Liszewski, “Inside the mug are three sensors that can detect how far it’s been filled, and the user simply has to press one of three buttons on the handle to choose what level they’d like. When the desired amount of liquid in the mug has been reached, an audible alert will sound letting them know they can stop pouring.”

(How to use the Bell Mug. Source: Braun Bell Concept Mug For The Visually Impaired)

In both of these solutions, the user still has to perform the task of pouring the liquid on their own, so that they still might spill the liquid out if they fail to aim at the cup or over-tilt the container. Using a robot instead can make this job more pleasant, free the user from manual work, and prevent the user from getting scald by the hot liquid.

As long as all the containers are stored in places accessible by the Fetch robot and the user is able to give instructions described above, this solution is feasible.

oursecretstudenttreethings

Robotics Capstone (Prior Work)

Problem

Loneliness is an epidemic in Japan. According to the Japan Times, an estimated 6.24 million Japanese people over 65, with total of 18.4 million adults, live alone. Many of these people didn’t choose to live alone, but as they age, as their family members and friends vanish or grow feeble, they were left in the world with loneliness. For many of them, their old age and weak body made it impossible to meet new friends and seek the companionship.

In fact, the situation is so severe that there is a special Japanese word “Kudokushi” describing the phenomenon of people dying alone and remaining undiscovered for a long period of time.

Solution

Recently at CES 2019, engineers and designers at Groove X, a Japanese startup, has made a new social assistive robot, lovot (combine the words “love” and “robot”), with the sole goal bring love. Lovot was designed to look like, sound like, feel like, and “walk” like a toddler. It has two big vivid blue eyes that look around and stare at the user. It uses three wheels at the bottom to follow the user around and some microphones to produce baby sounds. It asks for attention frequently, at which time the user will have to pick it up and hug it in the arms. When they do, Lovot, which also weighs like a toddler, would close its eyes to go to “sleep” just like a toddler. What’s more, unlike other social assistive robots, lovot has a warm body and a ton of sensors specifically designed for touch. It’s expected that through these hugging, touching interactions, users can establish a companionship with the robot so they will feel less lonely.

Source

https://groove-x.com/en/about/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRF8JkQSbu0

zigmanra-blog

Project Idea: Decreasing Severity of Panic Attacks

Problem: People who struggle with severe anxiety can have unexpected panic attacks and trouble coping with them when alone. When someone begins having a panic attack there are several specific things that they can do to help overcome it, however, sometimes it can be hard for an individual to do these things because of the overpowering feelings and emotions brought on by the attack. It can be extremely helpful for someone beginning a panic attack to have someone there to help them calm down and remember the steps they should take to feel better. When an individual experiencing a panic attack is alone, the symptoms can be much more extreme and harder to overcome.

I have had personal experience with this target group. On two separate occasions, I have lived with someone who has severe panic attacks. One of these individuals taught me several things I could do to help her when she was experiencing a panic attack. These things were very simple, such as holding her hand, or even just reminding her to breathe and that it will be okay soon. From both the individuals that I lived with I learned about how big a difference it can make to have another person there to talk you down during a panic attack, and how much worse it can be when you are alone.

Possible Solution: Having an assistive social robot could decrease the severity of panic attacks for individuals who are alone. The robot could recognize the beginning signs of a panic attack and then help the individual feel better. It could do so by reminding the individual to breathe and telling them it will be okay soon. It could also do other things that could be helpful depending on the individual, such as playing calming music or calling a family member. The most helpful actions could be preprogramed by the owner. A robot would be a good solution for this problem because it is mobile and doesn’t require the individual to activate anything. The robot could always be near the owner in order to pick up on any signs and then once it recognizes anything it could ask the individual if they are feeling okay or experiencing a panic attack and with a simple yes response take actions to help alleviate symptoms. This solution would be fairly easy to implement as the robot would only need to be able to recognize several actions by an individual, such as hyperventilating or shaking. It could also first be programmed to periodically check in on an individual to see how they are feeling.

Sources: https://www.bustle.com/p/what-to-do-if-you-have-a-panic-attack-alone-8429550 https://www.anxietycoach.com/overcoming-panic-attacks.html https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/panic-disorder.shtml

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

CSE 481: Robotics Capstone, Winter 2019