NSF Award
1142743
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposes a methodology and novel algo-<br/>rithms for Personal Service Robotics. Recognizing that, in unstructured environments, autonomous robotics<br/>alone is not yet reliable enough for performing complete tasks, and complete manual teleoperation is too<br/>labor intensive, this approach combines autonomous operation with human assistance in a Tiered Human-<br/>in-the-Loop framework. At all levels, the autonomy will request help when unexpected or anomalous events<br/>occur. For example, at high levels the user may be asked to identify objects or adjust plans. At the low level<br/>the user may be asked to remote control the robot end-e ector to unstick a wedged object. Automation<br/>will focus on the most frequent task components, including motion planning, object grasping, and simple<br/>rigid-environment manipulation. The major innovations arise from (a) the design of limit-aware autonomy<br/>in each of these areas, requesting human intervention when needed and (b) multi-tiered human-assisted<br/>fallback options that necessitate greater involvement for severe failures or complex circumstances. Phase I<br/>will demonstrate an operator assisting a robot completing personal service tasks in non-industrial environ-<br/>ments. Phase II will parallelize for an operator supporting multiple robots, with the multiplicative e ect<br/>demonstrating overall labor savings.<br/><br/>The broader impact/commercial potential of this project includes accelerating the deployment of robots<br/>in unstructured environments, extending the market for personal robotic services beyond single-purpose<br/>autonomous devices, and increasing access to in-home assistance in daily living for an aging population.<br/>With demographics shifting to an older population, we face a major shortage of manual labor, particularly<br/>for unskilled work. This will impact the o ce and home environments, and dramatically a ect the older<br/>population for whom daily tasks become increasingly burdensome, but also for whom appropriate service<br/>workers may not be available. Allowing an operator to assist robots performing personal service tasks can<br/>increase the productivity of such labor and perform greater personal service than traditionally possible.<br/>Meanwhile, customers are clearly ready to invest into robotic technology. For reference, even today's highly-<br/>limited personal and home robots created a $1.28 Billion global market. A human-in-the-loop personal service<br/>robot will greatly expand that market, as well as create markets for operator services and infrastructures.<br/>Delivering personal robotic service will have the immediate bene ts of reduced labor costs and increased<br/>productivity, while also allowing older adults to age in familiar housing and retain greater independence.
