A FRIEND for assisting handicapped people

Author

Martens, Christian ; Ruchel, Nils ; Lang, Oliver ; Ivlev, Oleg ; Gräser, Axel

Author_Institution

Inst. of Autom., Bremen Univ., Germany

Volume

8

Issue

1

fYear

2001

fDate

3/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

57

Lastpage

65

Abstract

The semiautonomous robotic system “FRIEND” consists of an electric wheelchair with the robot arm MANUS. Both devices are controlled by a computer. The user interface consists of a flat screen and a speech interface. The system is for use by persons with upper limb impairments as well as disability of the legs. FRIEND´s hardware and software are described. The current state of development is then presented, as well as research results that will be integrated soon. After an explanation of the speech interface, the methods developed for semiautonomous control are described. These are programming by demonstration, visual servoing, and configuration planning based on the method of imaginary links

Keywords

flat panel displays; handicapped aids; mobile robots; speech-based user interfaces; FRIEND; configuration planning; demonstration based programming; electric wheelchair; flat screen; handicapped persons; imaginary links; robot arm MANUS; semiautonomous control; semiautonomous robotic system; speech interface; upper limb impairments; user interface; visual servoing; Automatic control; Cameras; Control systems; Hardware; Mobile robots; Robot kinematics; Robot programming; Robotics and automation; Speech; Wheelchairs;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Robotics & Automation Magazine, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1070-9932

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/100.924364

Filename

924364