Research Publications
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Publication Embargo Posture control of robot manipulators with fuzzy voice commands using a fuzzy coach–player system(Taylor & Francis Group, 2007-01-01) Jayawardena, C; Watanabe, K; Izumi, KThis paper presents a method of controlling robot manipulators with fuzzy voice commands. Recently, there has been some research on controlling robots using information-rich fuzzy voice commands such as 'go little slowly' and learning from such commands. However, the scope of all those works was limited to basic fuzzy voice motion commands. In this paper, we introduce a method of controlling the posture of a manipulator using complex fuzzy voice commands. A complex fuzzy voice command is composed of a set of fuzzy voice joint commands. Complex fuzzy voice commands can be used for complicated maneuvering of a manipulator, while fuzzy voice joint commands affect only a single joint. Once joint commands are learned, any complex command can be learned as a combination of some or all of them, so that, using the learned complex commands, a human user can control the manipulator in a complicated manner with natural language commands. Learning of complex commands is discussed in the framework of fuzzy coach–player model. The proposed idea is demonstrated with a PA-10 redundant manipulator.Publication Open Access Multidisciplinary Design Approach for Implementation of Interactive Services(Springer Netherlands, 2011-10-14) Kuo, I. H; Jayawardena, C; Broadbent, E; MacDonald, B. AIn 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.Publication Open Access Controlling a robot manipulator with fuzzy voice commands using a probabilistic neural network(Springer-Verlag, 2006-07-06) Jayawardena, C; Watanabe, K; Izumi, KNatural language commands are generated by intelligent human beings. As a result, they contain a lot of information. Therefore, if it is possible to learn from such commands and reuse that knowledge, it will be a very efficient process. In this paper, learning from such information rich voice commands for controlling a robot is studied. First, new concepts of fuzzy coachplayer system and sub-coach are proposed for controlling robots with natural language commands. Then, the characteristics of the subjective human decision making process are discussed and a Probabilistic Neural Network (PNN) based learning method is proposed to learn from such commands and to reuse the acquired knowledge. Finally, the proposed concept is demonstrated and confirmed with experiments conducted using a PA-10 redundant manipulator.Publication Open Access Feasibility study of a robotic medication assistant for the elderly(Academia, 2011-01-17) Tiwari, P; Warren, J; Day, K; MacDonald, B; Jayawardena, C; Kuo, I.H; Igic, A; Datta, CManagement of complex medication regimens by older people poses a significant challenge wherein use of information technology could play a role in improving clinical efficacy and safety of treatment. The use of computing devices, however, presents a special challenge to older people given their physical and cognitive limitations. Robotic platforms show promise for extending the functionality of the user interface to make personalized interaction engaging and empowering, and for proactively reaching out to older users to support their healthcare delivery. We believe that a robot combining a touch screen and voice based interface could offer an effective platform to meet these requirements. This paper reports on a feasibility study of such a system for helping older people with their medications. We exposed 10 relatively independent residents of an aged care facility to our robot running a medication reminding application while they took their medications. The interaction was followed by a questionnaire and structured interview to elicit their opinions and feedback. We found the application to be well received as all users could successfully complete the session, and most subjects found it easy to use, appropriately designed and felt confident using it. A number of technical errors were uncovered, and the results suggest opportunities to refine the equipment and dialog design to provide a better robotic medication assistant.Publication Open Access Human-Robot Interaction Research to Improve Quality of Life in Elder Care—An Approach and Issues(Workshops at the Twenty-Fifth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 2011-08-24) Broadbent, E; Jayawardena, C; Kerse, N; Stafford, R. Q; MacDonald, B. AThis paper describes a program of research that aims to develop and test healthcare robots for elder care. We describe the aims of the project, the robots developed, and studies we have performed in HRI in elder care. We highlight research design issues that have become apparent in the retirement home setting when testing robots. These issues are relevant to robotics researchers wishing to evaluate the effects of robotic care on older people’s quality of life.Publication Embargo 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. AService 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.Publication Embargo 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. AThis 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.Publication Embargo Case studies for model driven engineering in mobile robotics(IEEE, 2011-05-09) MacDonald, B; Roop, p; Abbas, T; Datta, C; Jayawardena, C; Diprose, J; Hosking, J; Bhatti, ZCase studies for model driven engineering in mobile robotics Page 1 Case studies for model driven engineering in mobile robotics Bruce MacDonald Partha S Roop Tanveer Abbas Chandimal Jayawardena Chandan Datta Jamie Diprose* John Hosking* Zeeshan E Bhatti Robotics Laboratory Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering *Department of Computer Science University of Auckland 9 May 2011 Page 2 Outline • Model driven engineering • Case studies: 1. Customization tools for different human roles 2. Defining interactions 3. Programming by demonstration 4. Visual programming 5. Safety critical robotics Page 3 Model driven engineering Designer provides high level specification • Sound formal model – Ideal case: amenable to formal checking • Visual design tools • Cognitively appropriate for human designer roles eg medication management in healthcare – Developers (software development …Publication Embargo Approximate decision making by natural language commands for robots(IEEE, 2006-11-06) Watanabe, K; Jayawardena, C; Izumi, KInferring the correct meaning of natural language commands, as judged by the person who issues commands, is mandatory for natural language commanded robotic systems. There have been some successful research on this; but one of the important and related aspects has not been addressed, i.e. the possibility of learning from natural language commands. Since natural language commands are generated by human users, they contain valuable information. Nevertheless, the learning from such commands, as well as the interpretation of them face many challenges due to the inherent subjectiveness of natural languages. In this paper, we propose a decision making process for natural language commanded robots which is influenced by certain characteristics of human decision making process. The proposed concept is demonstrated with an experiment conducted using a robotic manipulator. First, the robot is controlled with natural language commands to perform some pick and place operations during which the robot builds a knowledge base. After learning, the robot is capable of performing approximately similar tasks by making approximate decisions with the gained knowledge. For the decision making a probabilistic neural network is usedPublication Embargo Teaching a tele-robot using natural language commands(IEEE, 2005-11-07) Jayawardena, C; Watanabe, K; Izumi, KFor Internet-based teleoperation systems, user-friendly natural interfaces are advantageous because those systems are intended to be used by non-experts. In developing user friendly interfaces, natural language communication is mandatory. This work presents a system in which a sub-set of natural language is used to command a tele-robot manipulator doing an object sorting task. The paper discusses about referring to objects with natural language commands such as "pick the small red cube". This is achieved by learning individual lexical symbols that refer to colors, shapes, and sizes independently, and then inferring the meaning of a combination of them.