Telerobot

From IntRoLab

Telerobot - Mobile Robot for Home Telepresence

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Telehealth assistive technologies for homes constitute a very promising avenue to decrease load on the health care system, to reduce hospitalization period and to improve quality of life. Teleoperated from adistant location, a mobile robot can become a beneficial tool in health applications. However, design issues related to such systems are broad and mostly unexplored (e.g., locomotion and navigation in-home settings, remote interaction and patient acceptability, evaluation of clinical needs and their integration into health care information systems). Designing a safe and effective robotic system for in-home teleassistance requires taking into consideration the complexities of having novice users remotely navigate a mobile robot in a home environment while they interact with patients.

Interdisciplinary and exploratory design methodology is adopted to develop a telepresence assistive mobile robot for homecare assistance of elderly people. Preliminary studies using robots, focus groups and interviews allowed us to derive preliminary specifications to design a new mobile robotic system named Telerobot. Telerobot’s locomotion mechanism provides improved mobility when moving on uneven surfaces, helping to provide stable video feed to the user. Its control system is implemented for safe teleoperation. A study involving 10 rehabilitation professionals confirms that the system is usable in home environments. Analysis of teleoperation strategies used by novice teleoperators suggest that it is essential in a home environment that the teleoperation interface provides the user with a visual feedback of the objects surrounding the robot, their distances relative to the robot and the size of the robot in the environment. Enhanced user interfaces to augment the operator’s perception of the environment were elaborated and tested in controlled conditions. These experiments are conducted with the objective of coming up with a complete, efficient and usable in-home teleassistance mobile robotic system.


Publications

  1. Michaud, F., Boissy, P., Labonté, D., Brière, S., Perrault, K., Corriveau, H., Grant, A., Cloutier, R., Roux, M.-A., Iannuzzi, D., Royer, M.-P., Ferland, F., Pomerleau, F., Lauria, M. (2010), “Exploratory design and evaluation of a homecare teleassistive mobile robotic system,” Mechatronics, Special Issue on Design and Control Methodology in Telerobotics, 20:751-766. ([1])
  2. Ferland, F., Pomerleau, F., Le Dinh, C.T., Michaud, F. (2009), "Egocentric and exocentric teleoperation interface using real-time, 3D video projection", Proceedings ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, March. (pdf)
  3. Michaud, F., Boissy, P., Labonté, D., Corriveau, H., Grant, A., Lauria, M., Cloutier, R., Roux, M.-A., Iannuzzi, D., Royer, M.-P. (2008) “A telementoring robot for home care,” Technology and Aging, selected papers from the 2007 International Conference on Technology and Aging, vol. 21, Assistive Technology Research Series. (pdf)
  4. Labonté, D. (2008), "Interface-opérateur à réalité et perspective mixte de téléopération de robot mobile pour une application en téléassistance,", Thèse Ph.D., Département de génie électrique et de génie informatique, Université de Sherbrooke. (pdf)
  5. Iannuzzi, D. (2008), "Integrative architecture for clinical information systems : Major study in robotic technology in home care, with minor validation study in oncology," Mémoire de maîtrise en sciences cliniques, Université de Sherbrooke.
  6. Cloutier, R. (2007), "Conception électronique et informatique d'un robot mobile pour usage dans un environnement domiciliaire", Mémoire de maîtrise, Département de génie électrique et de génie informatique, Université de Sherbrooke, avril. (pdf)
  7. Michaud, F., Boissy, P., Corriveau, H., Grant, A., Lauria, M., Labonté, D., Cloutier, R., Roux, M.-A., Royer, M.P., Iannuzzi, D. (2007), "Remote assistance in caregiving using Telerobot", The 2nd International Conference on Technology and Aging (ICTA), Toronto, juin. (pdf)
  8. Boissy, P., Corriveau, H., Michaud, F., Royer, M.P., Labonté, D. (2007), “Exploring the potential use of home mobile telepresence for telehomecare: a qualitative study with healthcare professionals and community living elderly,” Journal of Telemedecine and Telecare. (pdf)
  9. Michaud, F., Boissy, P., Corriveau, H., Grant, A., Lauria, M., Labonté, D., Cloutier, R., Roux, M.-A., Royer, M.-P., Iannuzzi, D. (2007), "Telepresence robot for home care assistance", Proceedings American Association for Artificial Intelligence Spring Symposium on Multidisciplinary Collaboration for Socially Assistive Robotics, Stanford, March. (pdf)
  10. Labonté, D., Michaud, F., Boissy, P., Corriveau, H., Cloutier, R., Roux, M.-A. (2006) “Evaluation methodology of user interfaces for teleoperated mobile robots in home environments,” Proceedings IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 4466-4471. (pdf)
  11. Boissy, P., Corriveau, H., Michaud, F., Labonté, D., Royer, M.-P. (2006), “Exploring the potential use of mobile robotics in a home environment for telehomecare interventions: a qualitative study with healthcare professionals and community living elders,” International Conference on Aging, Disability and Independence.
  12. Boissy, P., Hamel, M., Bonato, P., Michaud, F., Fontaine, R., Corriveau, H. (2005), “Identification of functional motor activities in balance-impaired individuals using an ambulatory activity monitoring system,” 18th World Congress of the International Association of Gerontology.
  13. Labonté, D., Michaud, F. (2002), "Système de télésurveillance robotique/domotique pour personne à risques maintenues à domicile", Symposium télésanté 2002, Québec.

Links for Assistive Robotics

Links to Other Projects

Team

  • Marc-André Roux
  • Daniel Labonté
  • Richard Cloutier
  • Simon Brière
  • Dominic Létourneau
  • François Michaud
  • Patrick Boissy
  • Hélène Corriveau
  • Andrew Grant
  • François Ferland