Service-oriented Robots Research Articles

浅谈新型人机关系下的服务型机器人

浅谈新型人机关系下的服务型机器人

Intelligent Shopping Cart Design Based on the Multi-Sensor Information Fusion Technology and Vision Servo Technology

In order to promote the intelligent transformation of service-oriented robot used in supermarkets, an intelligent shopping cart has been designed in this paper to realize the integration of auto following, shopping and payment based on the multi-sensor information fusion technology and vision servo technology. Firstly, a distributed sensor fusion structure was designed including photoelectric, ultrasonic sensors and monocular camera. Then, all the collected data were fused during auto following process of the intelligent shopping cart, and the commodity information could be identified to form the billing information by which the customer could complete the payment by scanning the payment QR code and the corresponding records also can be viewed by logging in the Wechat applet.

Identifying Features that Enhance Older Adults’ Acceptance of Robots: A Mixed Methods Study

Background: With global aging, robots are considered a promising solution for handling the shortage of aged care and companionships. However, these technologies would serve little purpose if their intended users do not accept them. While the socioemotional selectivity theory predicts that older adults would accept robots that offer emotionally meaningful relationships, selective optimization with compensation model predicts that older adults would accept robots that compensate for their functional losses. Objective: The present study aims to understand older adults’ expectations for robots and to compare older adults’ acceptance ratings for 2 existing robots: one of them is a more human-like and more service-oriented robot and the other one is a more animal-like and more companion-oriented robot. Methods: A mixed methods study was conducted with 33 healthy, community-dwelling Taiwanese older adults (age range: 59–82 years). Participants first completed a semi-structured interview regarding their ideal robot. After receiving information about the 2 existing robots, they then completed the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology questionnaires to report their pre-implementation acceptance of the 2 robots. Results: Interviews were transcribed for conventional content analysis with satisfactory inter-rater reliability. From the interview data, a collection of older adults’ ideal robot characteristics emerged with highlights of humanlike qualities. From the questionnaire data, respondents showed a higher level of acceptance toward the more service-oriented robot than the more companion-oriented robot in terms of attitude, perceived adaptiveness, and perceived usefulness. From the mixed methods analyses, the finding that older adults had a higher level of positive attitude towards the more service-oriented robot than the more companion-oriented robot was predicted by higher expectation or preference for robots with more service-related functions. Conclusion: This study identified older adults’ preference toward more functional and humanlike robots. Our findings provide practical suggestions for future robot designs that target the older population.

Development of a Real-Time Task Editable Service-Oriented Security Robot

Robots are widely used in modern industrial manufacturing, in households, in entertainment, and in the security sector. Recently, because of the complexity of household-robot missions remotely controlled by the host, the development of a real-time task editable service-oriented security robot that may efficiently execute routine missions by avoiding advance instruction is necessary In this paper, an intelligent and interactive security robot is developed. In order to remotely manipulate the robot’s movements, both the PC-base’s TCP/IP protocol and the Web-base with an active server page (ASP) function via an access point (AP) are adopted. To facilitate targeted functions, interactivity in conjunction with high quality sensors plays an essential role. To avoid colliding with a barrier, an ultrasonic sensor is installed on both sides of the security robot. By using infrared sensors, the electric charge station can be detected. Additionally, electrical devices used in a home equipped with RF receivers can be remotely manipulated by receiving signals transmitted from the RF transmitter of the security robot. Moreover, for security purposes, an infrared sensor installed in the security robot is used to detect a house invasion by an unwanted intruder, causing both the alarm and the web-camera to be triggered simultaneously. Here, in order to deal with all signals, a 8051 microchip connected to the robot’s mother board is used. The 8051 microchip will receive the signals (Web-Cam system, the infrared sensor, the body infrared sensor, and the ultrasonic sensor) and trigger the devices (Web-Cam system’ motor, wheel’s motors, alarm system, and RF-transmitter) Consequently, a prototype security robot has been manufactured and successfully tested in the laboratory

Distributed Service-Oriented Robotics

The Internet's next evolution will require the current Internet (which concentrates on information access) to combine with an Internet of Things. Consequently, Web services that operate on information will need to seamlessly interoperate with services, and perhaps robotic capabilities, which interact with physical objects. While the paradigm known as service-oriented computing has adopted standard interfaces that aggregate data-centric services, the development of similar standard interfaces for distributed robotic services (that have access to physical objects) has been a challenge for academic and industrial researchers.

Autonomous Mobile Robot for Small Advertisements Cleaning

A mobile robot with autonomous recognition and automatic clearing small advertisements on the ground is presented. It’s the service-oriented robot for cleaning of small advertisements. The robot body is designed according to the design requirements of clearing and the control strategies for tracing and recognition small advertisements are proposed. The key issue of the robot is the hardware design for moving clean assisted by vision system and corresponding recognition methods. The results show the feasibility of the hardware structure, circuit design and program algorithm.