Mobile Assistive Robot
in an Inclusive Space
MARIS-I: Towards
robot-assisted living
through universal design
of the environment
Funded by:
Government of Malta
Endeavour Scheme
Start date:
2017
End Date 2019
Budget: €8,000
AND
University of Malta
Start Date: 2019
End
Date: 2019
Budget: € 2,100
MARIS-II: Development
of a framework for the
conversion to
robot-inclusive homes,
and upgrading of the
UM domestic robot
prototype
Funded by:
University of Malta,
Research Excellence Fund
Start Date: 2020
End
Date: 2022
Budget: € 55,000
Principal Investigator
at the University of
Malta:
Prof.
Ing. Michael A. Saliba
Co-Investigator/s at the
University of Malta:
Prof. Ing.
Simon G. Fabri
Ms Yesenia Aquilina
Mr Prabhu Rayudu
Naraharisetti
Research Objectives:
This work involves the
development of new concepts
to design/convert the home
environment to be amenable
to use by both humans and
robot(s) – i.e. a
Robot-inclusive Space (RIS),
and the construction of a
test environment and an
associated prototype
tele-operated robotic device
for domestic support. The
first application targets
support for the elderly.
Results:
Extensive and specific
needs-identification
surveys of elderly persons
and of attendant health
care professionals have
been carried out, and the
results have been analyzed
to extract those
activities and movements
for which the elderly
require help in order to
be able to live
independently. The
specifications for a
kitchen RIS have been
analytically derived, and
a test environment
constructed. The first
prototype mobile domestic
robot has been designed,
constructed and
demonstrated in the new
RIS. It is based on an
omni-directional mobile
platform, and comprises a
gripper mounted on a
two-degree-of-freedom arm.
The robot has a 2 kg
payload capacity and
control is achieved via
tele-operation.
Current Work:
Current work involves the
extension of the RIS
concepts, and the
development of appropriate
vision-based object/obstacle
recognition techniques, and
of route planning
algorithms, for the robot to
navigate and function with a
degree of autonomy within
the RIS.
Publications:
Y. Aquilina, M. A. Saliba
and S. G. Fabri,
“Mobile Assistive Robot in
an Inclusive Space: An
Introduction to the MARIS
Project”, in Lecture Notes
in Computer Science 11876,
Social Robotics: Proceedings
of the 11th International
Conference, ICSR 2019,
Madrid, Spain, November
26–29, 2019, ed. M. Salichs
et al., Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2019, pp.
538-547.
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