SmartWheeler: A robotic wheelchair test-bed for investigating new models of human-robot interaction

Multidisciplinary Collaboration for Socially Assistive Robotics

Volume

Papers from the 2007 AAAI Spring Symposium

Contents

The goal of the SmartWheeler project is to increase the autonomy and safety of individuals with severe mobility impairments by developing a robotic wheelchair that is adapted to their needs. The project tackles a range of challenging issues, focusing in particular on tasks pertaining to human-robot interaction, and on robust control of the intelligent wheelchair. The platform we have built also serves as a test-bed for validating novel concepts and algorithms for automated decision-making onboard socially assistive robots. This paper introduces the wheelchair platform, and outlines technique contributions in four ongoing research areas: adaptive planning in large-scale environments, learning and control under model uncertainty, large-scale dialogue management, and communication protocols for the tactile interface.