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While robots are increasingly integrated into the built environment, little is known how their qualities can meaningfully influence our spaces to facilitate enjoyable and agreeable interaction, rather than robotic settings that are driven…
Mobile service robots are increasingly prevalent in human-centric, real-world domains, operating autonomously in unconstrained indoor environments. In such a context, robotic vision plays a central role in enabling service robots to…
Navigational challenges significantly impact the independence and mobility of Individuals with Visual Impairment (IVI). While numerous assistive technologies exist, their adoption remains limited due to usability challenges, financial…
Brain-computer interface (BCI) systems have potential as assistive technologies for individuals with severe motor impairments. Nevertheless, individuals must first participate in many training sessions to obtain adequate data for optimizing…
Animals use limbs for both locomotion and manipulation. We aim to equip quadruped robots with similar versatility. This work introduces a system that enables quadruped robots to interact with objects using their legs, inspired by…
In today's society, where independent living is becoming increasingly important, it can be extremely constricting for those who are blind. Blind and visually impaired (BVI) people face challenges because they need manual support to prompt…
Highly Automated Vehicles (HAVs) can improve mobility for blind and visually impaired people (BVIPs). However, designing non-visual interfaces that enable them to maintain situation awareness inside the vehicle is a challenge. This paper…
Robot avatars for customer service are gaining traction in Japan. However, their acceptance in other societal contexts remains underexplored, complicating efforts to design robot avatars suitable for diverse cultural environments. To…
The demand for social robots in fields like healthcare, education, and entertainment increases due to their emotional adaptation features. These robots leverage multimodal communication, incorporating speech, facial expressions, and…
Indoor built environments like homes and offices often present complex and cluttered layouts that pose significant challenges for individuals who are blind or visually impaired, especially when performing tasks that involve locating and…
By the year 2023, the global population of individuals with impaired vision has surpassed 220 million. People with impaired vision will find it difficult while finding path or avoiding obstacles, and must ask for auxiliary tools for help.…
Nonverbal behaviors such as posture, gestures, and gaze are essential for conveying internal states, both consciously and unconsciously, in human interaction. For robots to interact more naturally with humans, robot movement design should…
Sidewalk robots are increasingly common across the globe. Yet, their operation on public paths poses challenges for people with mobility disabilities (PwMD) who face barriers to accessibility, such as insufficient curb cuts. We interviewed…
Blind people have limited opportunities to explore an environment based on their interests. While existing navigation systems could provide them with surrounding information while navigating, they have limited scalability as they require…
Embodied computer vision considers perception for robots in novel, unstructured environments. Of particular importance is the embodied visual exploration problem: how might a robot equipped with a camera scope out a new environment? Despite…
Robots in shared spaces often move in ways that are difficult for people to interpret, placing the burden on humans to adapt. High-DoF robots exhibit motion that people read as expressive, intentionally or not, making it important to…
Robots hold significant promise to assist with providing care to an aging population and to help overcome increasing caregiver demands. Although a large body of research has explored robotic assistance for individuals with disabilities and…
Humanoid robots that act as human-robot interfaces equipped with social skills can assist people in many of their daily activities. Receptionist robots are one such application where social skills and appearance are of utmost importance.…
Assistive robotic systems have shown growing potential to improve the quality of life of those with disabilities. As researchers explore the automation of various caregiving tasks, considerations for how the technology can still preserve…
Evolutionary robotics has aimed to optimize robot control and morphology to produce better and more robust robots. Most previous research only addresses optimization of control, and does this only in simulation. We have developed a…