SECTION: Features
Novel technological systems enabling people to control multiple robotic avatars simultaneously could support more accessible ways to multitask. An implementation of a parallel avatar system in a cafe shows that, leveraging their existing skills, remote workers with disabilities were able to utilize the system to control up to four robots, each with a different function, to assist customers in a cafe. The parallel avatar systems expand the agency and the capabilities of disabled workers, while also delivering better experiences to customers.
By Giulia Barbareschi, Midori Kawaguchi, Hiroaki Kato, Kazuaki Takeuchi, Masato Nagahiro, Yoshifumi Shiiba, Yoshifuji Ory, Kentaro Yoshifuji, Shunichi Kasahara, Kouta Minamizawa, January 2023
PDF | HTML | In the Digital Library
In order for robots to become integrated into society, we need to be able to prove that robots do their jobs reliably. Robot benchmarking competitions in smart cities offer a glimpse into our future.
By Matthew Studley, Valentina Presutti, Daniele Nardi, Sarah Carter, April 2022
PDF | HTML | In the Digital Library
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, "essential work" became a calling card for the labor that kept the country running. But the activity of essential workers often occurs out of sight. For example, the products of waste workers are everywhere---clean floors, sanitized tables, objects made from recycled plastics---though workers themselves are often behind the scenes.
By Franchesca Spektor, Estefania Rodriguez, Samantha Shorey, Sarah Fox, January 2022
PDF | HTML | In the Digital Library
Advanced robotics and artificial intelligence systems present a new challenge to human identity.
By Joanna J. Bryson, April 2019
PDF | HTML | In the Digital Library
SECTION: Features
People tend to believe they are more aware of their own health behaviors than they really are. In this article, we present technologies that employ ubiquitous home sensing to support awareness of healthy habits.
By Matthew L. Lee, December 2014
PDF | HTML | In the Digital Library
Robotic soccer is a challenging research domain involving multiple agents that need to collaborate in an adversarial environment to achieve specific objectives. This article describes CMUnited, the team of small robotic agents that we developed to enter the RoboCup-97 competition. We designed and built the robotic agents, devised the appropriate vision algorithm, and developed and implemented algorithms for strategic collaboration between the robots in an uncertain and dynamic environment. The robots can organize themselves in formations, hold specific roles, and pursue their goals. In game situations, they have demonstrated their collaborative behaviors on multiple occasions. The robots can also switch roles to maximize the overall performance of the team. We present an overview of the vision processing algorithm which successfully tracks multiple moving objects and predicts trajectories. The paper then focuses on the agents' behaviors ranging from low-level individual behaviors to coordinated, strategic team behaviors. CMUnited won the RoboCup-97 small-robot competition at IJCAI-97 in Nagoya, Japan.
By Manuela Veloso, Peter Stone, Kwun Han, Sorin Achim, April 1998
PDF | HTML | In the Digital Library
