Facilitating Human Interaction with a Robotic Exercise Coach using Smart Objects

The project builds upon prior work done by Prof. Katherine Kuchenbecker’s former Ph.D. student Naomi Fitter and current Ph.D. student Mayumi Mohan in the field of human-robot interaction. They investigated ways of using an upper-body humanoid robot (a Rethink Robotics Baxter Research Robot) to play physically interactive games with elderly adults in order to motivate them to exercise. The objective of the project is to improve the existing platform by facilitating the human user to interact with the robot through smart objects that trigger specific robot behaviors. Smart objects in this scope are any engineered device capable of producing dynamic physical interaction between a human and the robot, e.g., a smart glove that cues the robot to initiate a boxing game with a human. This open-ended design research project encompasses mechanical, electrical and computer engineering to achieve following milestone objectives: TO BE CONT’D

Faculty Supervisor:

Jeremy Cooperstock

Student:

Partner:

Max-Planck-Institut für Intelligente Systeme

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Technology; Health and Related Sciences & Technology; Education

University:

McGill University

Program: