Lifelong robot-assisted mobility: models, tools, and challenges

摘要

Increasing the autonomy of users with disabilities through robot-assisted mobility has the potential of facilitating their sensorimotor and social development, as well as reducing the burden of caring for such populations in both inpatient and outpatient settings. While techniques for task-specific assistance exist, they are largely focused on satisfying short- term goals, utilising stationary user models. For lifelong users and particularly for those with rapidly changing sensorimotor skills (for example very young children), adaptive models that take into consideration these developmental trajectories are becoming very important. In this paper, we present our approach to lifelong user models for robot-assisted mobility, and discuss existing models and tools, as well as challenges that remain ahead. (4 pages)