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date author details

0.1 28.08.2012 Rod

Walsh

Created & first

draft

0.2 29.08.2012 Rod

Walsh

First version ready

0.3 03.09.2012 Rod

Walsh

Slightly simplified

© T A M K , 2 0 1 2 . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D . 1

WHAT’S IN THESE SLIDES

What is the need, what problem needs solving?

What is the project about

What are you expecting from the project (what could be the concrete result)

What tools are the team using (programming languages etc.)

What would the ideal team composition be?

Picture or embedded video

Why would someone take part in the project

Background of the company / organization

© T A M K , 2 0 1 2 . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D . 2

PROJECT: THE NEED

Muscle injury, poor life style and advancing age require routine physical activity and physiological rehabilitation. For this. A professional physiotherapists provide motivation, instruction, monitoring and feedback with their domain expertise and by being physically present during physio sessions.

However, it would be too costly to have the physiotherapist one-on-one sessions every day for every amateur sporting injury, every elderly person and everyone else; even if there were access to enough professionals around the globe.

Take-home paper exercise programs, possibly with diaries, provide a low-cost extension to the professional. And kinetic console games can be used to practice an exercise program with a professional before repeating the program self-supervised. However, the lack of physically present instructor removes important monitoring and feedback, and requires significant self discipline to stay motivated.

To provide the cost-effectiveness of an avatar without losing many of the benefits of a physically present instructor, we will develop a smart robot that can be trained by a professional for an individual or a residential home group daily instruction.

It will spot correct and wrong movements and give corrective and motivational feedback. And keep the physiotherapist up-to-date with the routine and progress.

© T A M K , 2 0 1 2 . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D . 3

PROJECT: THE GOAL

Two applications:

• Repeating 7-day stretching routine (e.g. gentle Yoga) suitable for the

elderly at home and in residential care

• Injury/strain physiotherapy rehabilitation program

Enabled by two systems:

• Physio instruction of routines by Avatar and actual robot “at home”

• Instructor “teaching” body action routines, measurement & feedback

using their own body

Based on the 2012 Demola Innosummer software…

• Bioloid biped robot and Unity 3D “mirror robot” avatar

• Messaging/communication code

…and a combination of java, c#, javascript and human touch

© T A M K , 2 0 1 2 . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D . 4

SKILLS, EXPERIENCE AND MORE

Ideal team composition to include:

Body pose and 3D modeling – a few body models, many poses and movements (blender)

Game engine UI, animation, (basic) physics & communication (Unity 3D & C#)

Robot and communications software (java, embedded C, RoboPlus GUI)

Application & user experience design and testing (inc. instructor/instruction interviews)

Possible extensions:

Including face expressions (with body)

Kinetic body input (MS Kinect or openNI & Asus)

Demola Academy Social Robotics experience:

Most fun and rewarding way to learn (and get credits)

Close support and commitment from client (TAMK)

Possibly the most exciting application area for now and the future

Express your passion for ITC, coding, robots and human interaction

© T A M K , 2 0 1 2 . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D . 5

CLIENT: RICTI SOCIAL ROBOTICS @TAMK

T E K E S R I C T I

TEKES is the Finnish

Funding Agency for

Technology and

Innovation, which provides

the majority of the 3M€ 2

year budget for the RICTI

initiative(Re-establishing

the Finnish ICT industry).

www.tekes.fi/en

T A M K R D I

Tampere University of

Applied Sciences (TAMK)

Research, Development

and Innovation (RDI)

projects organization.

Separate, but collaborating

with, TAMK teaching

departments.

www.tamk.fi/cms/tamken.nsf/$all/4391

101EB5FD8A01C225767B0034C8BC

S O C I A L

R O B O T I C S

R&D project at TAMK RDI

funded by TEKES RICTI, to

build Tampere-region

ecosystem around Social

Robotics for SMEs,

established industry,

universities, and third

sector organizations.

socialrobotics.tamk.fi/

A S O C I A L R O B O T

A social robot is an autonomous robot that interacts and communicates with humans or

other autonomous physical agents by following social behaviors and rules attached to its

role.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_robot

© T A M K , 2 0 1 2 . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D . 6