Competences
Robots have been adopted in various application areas in the industry, however, robotics is not yet playing a major role in the welfare domain despite this domain to be challenged by limited resources and growing demands.
To address the use cases in the welfare domain, it is not only required to solve technical challenges but also to take into account related aspects such as design, ethics and the interaction between robots and end-users. SDU Robotics is addressing several use cases at both care centers and hospitals and focusing on the following topics:
· Computer vision:
· Recognition of objects and humans
· Recognition of human gaze
· Human-robot interaction:
· Developing robot behaviors intuitively understood by humans
· Modeling human proxemics
· Modeling and control of robotic processes
· Navigation for mobile robots
· Multimodal models for robot behaviors
· Adaptive, proactive robot behaviors
Facilities
SDU Robotics has established a lab for mobile robots, hosting a large variety of mobile robotic platforms as well as sensors and computing devices dedicated to mobile platforms which are used for both research projects and education. The lab holds also equipment to facilitate mock experiments for a wide range of use cases and studying the interaction with humans and robotic prototypes.
Project examples
To develop robotic solutions that not only address a given task and are safe to operate but also impose a solution which us acceptable by end-users, SDU Robotics cooperates closely with the end-user organization to gain insight into real end-user needs and requirements for robots:
RethiCare
RethiCare is funded by the Volkswagen Foundation and focuses on the design and exploration of novel aids, utilizing state of the art robot technology, for residents of elderly care home. The project is based on a interdisciplinary collaboration for addressing both technical challenges but also social and ethical questions related to the introduction of robot technology in this domain.
HanDiRob
HanDiRob is funded by the European Fund for Regional Development and focusing on the development of a mobile, interactive robot for hand disinfection, in particular for hospitals. Utilizing interactive elements such as gaze can both encourage end-users to remember sanitizing their hands, but also allow for educating them in doing it correctly.
Health-CAT was funded by European Fund for Regional Development and developing solutions tracking large equipment and transporting small items to the point of consumption, free care-givers from searching large equipment or leaving the patient to fetch small items. While the tracking is addressed with Bluetooth technology, the transportation task is addressed using a mobile robot.
The SMOOTH project aimed at creating robots for the support of elderly people. These robots have to interact seamlessly and robustly with their users. Thus, we have developed generic multi‐modal, highly adaptable proactive robot control and a modular mobile robot platform.
For more information contact Leon Bodenhagen