Research Papers - Dept of Information Technology

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Author: search.filters.author.Kuo, I. H

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Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
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    PublicationOpen Access
    Multidisciplinary Design Approach for Implementation of Interactive Services
    (Springer Netherlands, 2011-10-14) Kuo, I. H; Jayawardena, C; Broadbent, E; MacDonald, B. A
    In the design of service robots, a key research focus has been on Human Robot Interaction (HRI) required in service applications. HRI is one of the critical factors that determines the acceptability of a service robot. The user acceptance of a service robot and its applications is highly related to HRI, as HRI affects the user perception and user experience related to the robot. In this paper, a new design approach is proposed for designing and implementing HRI for service robot applications designed for real scenarios in the real-world environment. The objective of this design approach is to facilitate inter-disciplinary collaborations, which are essential for HRI research and for developing successful products. The proposed design approach was used in the design of the healthcare service robot “Cafero” developed at the University of Auckland in collaboration with the Electronic and Telecommunication Research Institute (ETRI) and Yujin Robot Company Ltd. of Korea. Vital signs measurement, medication management, entertainment and falls detection were implemented as service applications of Cafero. In the design process, UML and UMLi modelling diagrams were used to model the robot’s multi-modal and interactive behaviour. Interaction design patterns were defined to represent recurring interactions or social cues in HRI using UMLi notations. The proposed design approach emphaI- sises an iterative process to allow discovery of additional HRI requirements in the early design stage and to implement through Component-Based Software Engineering (CBSE). The design of communication initiation and user identification by Cafero is presented as a case study, in order to evaluate the proposed design approach. In this case study, enabling a service robot to act proactively to the presence of a potential user and identifying the user prior to providing healthcare services is presented. For the implementation, Open-RTM component-oriented framework was used.
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    PublicationEmbargo
    RoboStudio: A visual programming environment for rapid authoring and customization of complex services on a personal service robot
    (IEEE, 2012-10-07) Datta, C; Jayawardena, C; Kuo, I. H; MacDonald, B. A
    Service robots for personal and domestic use are increasingly gaining momentum. Easy and efficient programming of such robots is an enormous research and commercial space that is beginning to be explored. In this paper, we present RoboStudio, a Visual Programming Environment (VPE) to program the interactive behavior of personal service robots. RoboStudio lies at the intersection of VPEs which aid in authoring the robot user interface and control logic. A novel contribution of this work is that it advances the research in authoring service applications on robotic platforms, specially for researchers who do development in decentralized multidisciplinary teams and validate their research goals through field trials. Furthermore, service robot programming environments is a novel area of research, particularly when it comes to expressing what the robot does in a declarative syntax.
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    PublicationEmbargo
    Improved robot attitudes and emotions at a retirement home after meeting a robot
    (IEEE, 2010-09-13) Stafford, R. Q; Broadbent, E; Jayawardena, C; Unger, U; Kuo, I. H; Igic, A; Wong, R; Kerse, N; Watson, C; MacDonald, B. A
    This study investigated whether attitudes and emotions towards robots predicted acceptance of a healthcare robot in a retirement village population. Residents (n = 32) and staff (n = 21) at a retirement village interacted with a robot for approximately 30 minutes. Prior to meeting the robot, participants had their heart rate and blood pressure measured. The robot greeted the participants, assisted them in taking their vital signs, performed a hydration reminder, told a joke, played a music video, and asked some questions about falls and medication management. Participants were given two questionnaires; one before and one after interacting with the robot. Measures included in both questionnaires were the Robot Attitude Scale (RAS) and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). After using the robot, participants rated the overall quality of the robot interaction. Both residents and staff reported more favourable attitudes (p <; .05) and decreases in negative affect (p <; .05) towards the robot after meeting it, compared with before meeting it. Pre-interaction emotions and robot attitudes, combined with post-interaction changes in emotions and robot attitudes, were highly predictive of participants' robot evaluations (R = .88, p <; .05). The results suggest both pre-interaction emotions and attitudes towards robots, as well as experience with the robot, are important areas to monitor and address in influencing acceptance of healthcare robots in retirement village residents and staff. The results support an active cognition model that incorporates a feedback loop based on re-evaluation after experience.
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    PublicationEmbargo
    An efficient programming framework for socially assistive robots based on separation of robot behavior description from execution
    (IEEE, 2013-11-12) Kuo, I. H; Jayawardena, C; MacDonald, B. A
    One of the main challenges in socially assistive robotics is providing flexible and easy-to-use programming tools for users. Unlike other robots, designing socially assistive robots includes the subject-matter-experts (SMEs) from non-engineering disciplines. Therefore, the provided tools should be suitable for users with less programming experience. On the other hand, socially assistive robotic research involves field trials and user-centric studies, in which user and subject matter expert comments are used to improve the robot applications. Therefore, field programmability and customizability are key requirements. This paper presents a programming framework for socially assistive robots, which satisfies the above requirements; programmability by non-experts, field programmability and customizability. The proposed framework has been successfully implemented, deployed, and tested. Some robots with the framework presented in this paper are already in the commercialization pathway.
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    PublicationEmbargo
    Socially Assistive Robot HealthBot: Design, Implementation, and Field Trials
    (IEEE, 2016-09-01) Jayawardena, C; Kuo, I. H; Broadbent, E; MacDonald, B. A
    Socially assistive robotics is an important emerging research area. Socially assistive robotics is challenging as it is required to move robots out of laboratories and industrial settings to interact with ordinary human beings as peers, which requires social skills. The design process usually requires multidisciplinary research teams, which may comprise subject matter experts from various domains such as robotics, systems integration, medicine, psychology, gerontology, social and cognitive sciences, and neuroscience, among many others. Unlike most other robotic applications, socially assistive robotics faces some unique software and systems integration challenges. In this paper, the HealthBot robot architecture, which was designed to overcome these challenges, is presented. The presented architecture was implemented and used in several field trials. The details of the field trials are presented, and lessons learned are discussed with field trial results.
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    PublicationEmbargo
    RoboStudio: A visual programming environment for rapid authoring and customization of complex services on a personal service robot
    (IEEE, 2012-10-07) Datta, C; Jayawardena, C; Kuo, I. H; MacDonald, B. A
    Service robots for personal and domestic use are increasingly gaining momentum. Easy and efficient programming of such robots is an enormous research and commercial space that is beginning to be explored. In this paper, we present RoboStudio, a Visual Programming Environment (VPE) to program the interactive behavior of personal service robots. RoboStudio lies at the intersection of VPEs which aid in authoring the robot user interface and control logic. A novel contribution of this work is that it advances the research in authoring service applications on robotic platforms, specially for researchers who do development in decentralized multidisciplinary teams and validate their research goals through field trials. Furthermore, service robot programming environments is a novel area of research, particularly when it comes to expressing what the robot does in a declarative syntax.
  • Thumbnail Image
    PublicationEmbargo
    Improved robot attitudes and emotions at a retirement home after meeting a robot
    (IEEE, 2010-09-13) Stafford, R. Q; Broadbent, E; Jayawardena, C; Unger, U; Kuo, I. H; Igic, A; Wong, R; Kerse, N; Watson, C; MacDonald, B. A
    This study investigated whether attitudes and emotions towards robots predicted acceptance of a healthcare robot in a retirement village population. Residents (n = 32) and staff (n = 21) at a retirement village interacted with a robot for approximately 30 minutes. Prior to meeting the robot, participants had their heart rate and blood pressure measured. The robot greeted the participants, assisted them in taking their vital signs, performed a hydration reminder, told a joke, played a music video, and asked some questions about falls and medication management. Participants were given two questionnaires; one before and one after interacting with the robot. Measures included in both questionnaires were the Robot Attitude Scale (RAS) and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). After using the robot, participants rated the overall quality of the robot interaction. Both residents and staff reported more favourable attitudes (p <; .05) and decreases in negative affect (p <; .05) towards the robot after meeting it, compared with before meeting it. Pre-interaction emotions and robot attitudes, combined with post-interaction changes in emotions and robot attitudes, were highly predictive of participants' robot evaluations (R = .88, p <; .05). The results suggest both pre-interaction emotions and attitudes towards robots, as well as experience with the robot, are important areas to monitor and address in influencing acceptance of healthcare robots in retirement village residents and staff. The results support an active cognition model that incorporates a feedback loop based on re-evaluation after experience.
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    PublicationEmbargo
    Deployment of a service robot to help older people
    (IEEE, 2010-10-18) Jayawardena, C; Kuo, I. H; Unger, U; Igic, A; Wong, R; Watson, C.I; Stafford, R.Q; Broadbent, E; Tiwari, P; Warren, J; Sohn, J; MacDonald, B.A
    This paper presents the first version of a mobile service robot designed for older people. Six service application modules were developed with the key objective being successful interaction between the robot and the older people. A series of trials were conducted in an independent living facility at a retirement village, with the participation of 32 residents and 21 staff. In this paper, challenges of deploying the robot and lessons learned are discussed. Results show that the robot could successfully interact with people and gain their acceptance.
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    PublicationEmbargo
    Deployment of a service robot to help older people
    (IEEE, 2010-10-18) Jayawardena, C; Kuo, I. H; Unger, U; Igic, A; Wong, R; Watson, C. I; Stafford, Q. R; Broadbent, E; Tiwari, P; Warren, J; Sohn, J; MacDonald, B. A
    This paper presents the first version of a mobile service robot designed for older people. Six service application modules were developed with the key objective being successful interaction between the robot and the older people. A series of trials were conducted in an independent living facility at a retirement village, with the participation of 32 residents and 21 staff. In this paper, challenges of deploying the robot and lessons learned are discussed. Results show that the robot could successfully interact with people and gain their acceptance.