Assistive Robotics for public and AAL applications

摘要

In recent years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Cognitive Robotics (CR) underwent a tremendous development. Meanwhile, AI applications are capable to detect almost arbitrary objects in cluttered scenes, and mobile robots no longer depend on structured environments. In our department, we are mainly interested in assistive robots, which provide their functionalities by a strong collaboration between robot and humans. Besides basic capabilities like building complex models of their environment and save navigation, there is a strong need for methods allowing robust perception of the persons involved in the task at hand, and realizing an appropriate dialog procedure. After a short overview of the state of the art and the actual research challenges, we present results and experiences from two real-world scenarios. The first scenario aims at the development of an interactive tour guide in an exhibition, where the robot is to enrich user's perception of exhibits by multi-modal interaction. In the second scenario, we want to answer the question whether and how a robot can support caregivers and patients suffering from dementia in a nursing home and in a clinical setting.