Eye-Base Domestic Robot Allowing Patient to Be Self-Services and Communications Remotely

摘要

Eye-based domestic helper is proposed for helping patient self-sufficient in hospital circumstance. This kind of system will benefit for those patient who cannot move around, it especially happen to stroke patient who in the daily they just lay on the bed. They could not move around due to the body malfunction. The only information that still could be retrieved from user is eyes. In this research, we develop a new system in the form of domestic robot helper controlled by eye which allows patient self-service and speaks remotely. First, we estimate user sight by placing camera mounted on user glasses. Once eye image is captured, the several image processing are used to estimate the sight. Eye image is cropped from the source for simplifying the area. We detect the centre of eye by seeking the location of pupil. The pupil and other eye component could be easily distinguished based on the color. Because pupil has darker color than others, we just apply adaptive threshold for its separation. By using simple model of eye, we could estimate the sight based on the input from pupil location. Next, the obtained sight value is used as input command to the domestic robot. User could control the moving of robot by eye. Also, user could send the voice through text to speech functionality. We use baby infant robot as our domestic robot. We control the robot movement by sending the command via serial communication (utilizing the USB to serial adapter). Three types of command consist of move forward, turn left, and turn right are used in the system for moving the robot. In the robot, we place another camera for capturing the scenery in the front of robot. Between robot and user, they are separated by distance. They are connected over TCP/IP network. The network allows user control the robot remotely. We set the robot as server and user’s computer as client. The robot streams the scenery video and receives command sending by the client. In the other place, client (user) receives video streaming from server and control the robot movement by sending command via the network. The user could control the robot remotely even in the long distance because user could see the scenery in the front of robot. We have tested the performance of our robot controlled over TCP/IP network. An experiment measuring the robot maneuverability performance from start point avoiding and passing obstacles has been done in our laboratory. By implementing our system, patient in hospital could self-service by them self.