The course focuses on providing fundamental concepts of assistive robotics, a field devoted to supporting people in their daily activities. Applications include improving motor and cognitive abilities, reducing anxiety, providing companionship, and assisting with routine tasks.
Since assistive robotics is centered on people, social aspects play a key role, and robotic systems must be capable of interacting appropriately with users.
The course begins with a review of basic robotics concepts to establish a common foundation. It then introduces assistive robotics, its characteristics, and main application areas. Finally, current research works are analyzed to understand the state of the art and its relevance.
By the end of the course, students will be able to identify problems that can be addressed using assistive robotics and design basic solutions adapted to user needs.
Titular Professors
Professors
Basic knowledge of introductory robotics, programming, Linux environments, ROS, and Python is recommended.
The objective of this course is to introduce students to the field of assistive robotics, providing a global overview of its fundamentals, applications, and current challenges. The course aims to help students understand the role of robots in assisting people, particularly in contexts involving social factors and human-robot interaction. Additionally, the course seeks to develop students’ ability to analyze existing systems and design basic assistive robotics solutions oriented to real user needs.
PART I. Concept review
1. Fundamentals of robotics
1.1. What is a robot?
1.2. Main components
1.3. Locomotion
1.4. Manipulation
1.5. Sensors
1.6. Control architectures
2. Research methods
2.1. Qualitative vs Quantitative methods
2.2. Qualitative methods
2.2.1. Ethnography or participant observation
2.2.2 Focus groups
2.2.3. In-depth interview
2.3. Quantitative methods
2.3.1. Case studies
2.3.2 Field studies
2.3.3. Surveys
2.3.4. Experiments
PART II. Assistive robotics
1. Introduction to assistive robotics
1.1. What is assistive robotics?
1.2. Interaction and adaptation
1.3. Brief history
2. Human-Robot Interaction
2.1. What is it?
2.2. Design
2.3. Spatial Interaction
2.4. Nonverbal communication
2.4.1. Paraverbal communication
2.4.2 Body expression
2.4.3. Facial expression
2.5. Verbal communication
2.6. Emotion
2.7. Alternative communication means
2.7.1. Tactile and haptic
2.7.2. Screens and GUIs
2.7.3. Physiological information
3. Assistive robotics application areas
3.1. Health
3.2. Home
3.3. Education
3.4. Service
3.5. Industry
3.6. Office
3.7. Companionship/entertainment
PART III. Assistive robotics research review
Scientific paper review to be determined throughout the current academic year to cover sections 2 and 3 from Part II
The course applies the following methodologies: Part I and Part II: lecture sessions. Use of slides and videos. Part III: research paper reading and analysis (out of class) and discussion (in-person in class). Practice: we will work in small groups with one of our state-of-the-art robots in the lab: the UR3 industrial robot (Universal Robots, robotic arm) and/or the Nao robot (Softbank Robotics, humanoid). The practice covers the design and development of an assistive robot application.
The evaluation of the course is composed of two aspects: papers and practice.
PAPERS
Paper score = 60% written analysis + 40% class contribution
PRACTICE
Practice score = 40% functional + 40% interaction + 20% development
FINAL
It is mandatory to approve the individual parts to compute the final mark. Final score = 50% papers score + 50% practice score
The student must be able to:
- Identify the key elements of assistive robotics.
- Identify the needs of a given user profile.
- Develop a project in the field of assistive robotics to address specific needs.
- Understand, critique, and defend state of the art ideas in robotics.
[1] Mataric, M. (2007) The Robotics Primer, The MIT press.
[2] Feil-Seifer, David & J Matari?, Maja. (2005). Defining Socially Assistive Robotics. Proceedings of the IEEE 9th International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics. pp 465 - 468. 10.1109/ICORR.2005.1501143. [3] Christoph Bartneck, Tony Belpaeme, Friederike Eyssel, Takayuki Kanda, Merel Keijsers and Selma Sabanovi? Human- Robot Interaction. An Introduction (2019). Cambridge University Press (https://www.human-robot-interaction.org)
[1] Thomaz, A., Hoffman, G., & Cakmak, M. (2016). Computational Human-Robot Interaction. Foundations and Trends® in Robotics, 4(2-3), 105-223.
[2] Current scientific papers selected by the teaching staff throughout the course according to the topics covered in class.