Augmented Reality behind the wheel - Human Interactive Assistance by Mobile Robots

Abstract

Novel approaches have taken Augmented Reality (AR) beyond traditional body-worn or hand-held displays, leading to the creation of a new branch of AR: Spatial Augmented Reality (SAR) providing additional application areas. SAR is a rapidly emerging field that uses digital projectors to render virtual objects onto 3D objects in the real space. When mounting digital projectors on robots, this collaboration paves the way for unique Human-Robot Interactions (HRI) that otherwise would not be possible. Adding to robots the capability of projecting interactive Augmented Reality content enables new forms of interactions between humans, robots, and virtual objects, enabling new applications. In this work it is investigated the use of SAR techniques on mobile robots for better enabling this to interact in the future with elderly or injured people during rehabilitation, or with children in the pediatric ward of a hospital.