2020 |
A Zlatintsi, A C Dometios, N Kardaris, I Rodomagoulakis, P Koutras, X Papageorgiou, P Maragos, C S Tzafestas, P Vartholomeos, K Hauer, C Werner, R Annicchiarico, M G Lombardi, F Adriano, T Asfour, A M Sabatini, C Laschi, M Cianchetti, A Güler, I Kokkinos, B Klein, R López I-Support: A robotic platform of an assistive bathing robot for the elderly population Journal Article Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 126 , pp. 103451, 2020, ISSN: 0921-8890. Abstract | BibTeX | Links: [PDF] @article{ZLATINTSI2020103451, title = {I-Support: A robotic platform of an assistive bathing robot for the elderly population}, author = {A Zlatintsi and A C Dometios and N Kardaris and I Rodomagoulakis and P Koutras and X Papageorgiou and P Maragos and C S Tzafestas and P Vartholomeos and K Hauer and C Werner and R Annicchiarico and M G Lombardi and F Adriano and T Asfour and A M Sabatini and C Laschi and M Cianchetti and A Güler and I Kokkinos and B Klein and R López}, url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921889019304968}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.robot.2020.103451}, issn = {0921-8890}, year = {2020}, date = {2020-04-10}, journal = {Robotics and Autonomous Systems}, volume = {126}, pages = {103451}, abstract = {In this paper we present a prototype integrated robotic system, the I-Support bathing robot, that aims at supporting new aspects of assisted daily-living activities on a real-life scenario. The paper focuses on describing and evaluating key novel technological features of the system, with the emphasis on cognitive human–robot interaction modules and their evaluation through a series of clinical validation studies. The I-Support project on its whole has envisioned the development of an innovative, modular, ICT-supported service robotic system that assists frail seniors to safely and independently complete an entire sequence of physically and cognitively demanding bathing tasks, such as properly washing their back and their lower limbs. A variety of innovative technologies have been researched and a set of advanced modules of sensing, cognition, actuation and control have been developed and seamlessly integrated to enable the system to adapt to the target population abilities. These technologies include: human activity monitoring and recognition, adaptation of a motorized chair for safe transfer of the elderly in and out the bathing cabin, a context awareness system that provides full environmental awareness, as well as a prototype soft robotic arm and a set of user-adaptive robot motion planning and control algorithms. This paper focuses in particular on the multimodal action recognition system, developed to monitor, analyze and predict user actions with a high level of accuracy and detail in real-time, which are then interpreted as robotic tasks. In the same framework, the analysis of human actions that have become available through the project’s multimodal audio–gestural dataset, has led to the successful modeling of Human–Robot Communication, achieving an effective and natural interaction between users and the assistive robotic platform. In order to evaluate the I-Support system, two multinational validation studies were conducted under realistic operating conditions in two clinical pilot sites. Some of the findings of these studies are presented and analyzed in the paper, showing good results in terms of: (i) high acceptability regarding the system usability by this particularly challenging target group, the elderly end-users, and (ii) overall task effectiveness of the system in different operating modes.}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {article} } In this paper we present a prototype integrated robotic system, the I-Support bathing robot, that aims at supporting new aspects of assisted daily-living activities on a real-life scenario. The paper focuses on describing and evaluating key novel technological features of the system, with the emphasis on cognitive human–robot interaction modules and their evaluation through a series of clinical validation studies. The I-Support project on its whole has envisioned the development of an innovative, modular, ICT-supported service robotic system that assists frail seniors to safely and independently complete an entire sequence of physically and cognitively demanding bathing tasks, such as properly washing their back and their lower limbs. A variety of innovative technologies have been researched and a set of advanced modules of sensing, cognition, actuation and control have been developed and seamlessly integrated to enable the system to adapt to the target population abilities. These technologies include: human activity monitoring and recognition, adaptation of a motorized chair for safe transfer of the elderly in and out the bathing cabin, a context awareness system that provides full environmental awareness, as well as a prototype soft robotic arm and a set of user-adaptive robot motion planning and control algorithms. This paper focuses in particular on the multimodal action recognition system, developed to monitor, analyze and predict user actions with a high level of accuracy and detail in real-time, which are then interpreted as robotic tasks. In the same framework, the analysis of human actions that have become available through the project’s multimodal audio–gestural dataset, has led to the successful modeling of Human–Robot Communication, achieving an effective and natural interaction between users and the assistive robotic platform. In order to evaluate the I-Support system, two multinational validation studies were conducted under realistic operating conditions in two clinical pilot sites. Some of the findings of these studies are presented and analyzed in the paper, showing good results in terms of: (i) high acceptability regarding the system usability by this particularly challenging target group, the elderly end-users, and (ii) overall task effectiveness of the system in different operating modes. |
Copyright Notice:
Some material presented is available for download to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author’s copyright. In most cases, these works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder.
The work already published by the IEEE is under its copyright. Personal use of such material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish the material for advertising or promotional purposes, or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of the work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.