Optimizing Usability and Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) in Medical Robotics
From elder companionship and assistance to exoskeleton rehabilitation to autonomous surgery, robotics is playing a key role in emerging healthcare technology. These new applications demand a seamless interaction between the robot and the user, requiring new models that both improve the utility and mitigate the inherent risks.
This webinar will discuss the state of the art relative to UX/UI where a human is supervising a cobotic cell or a platoon of multi-functional robots perform a variety of tasks, streaming data back to the supervisor, prioritizing process steps, assisting in decision making etc.
We’ll discuss a use case for coordinated motion of multiple robotic arms in surgical robotics. In this use case, the surgeon works at a console, commanding one or more robotic arms. The motion control system is responsible for moving the surgical tool precisely while maintaining constraints such as remote center of motion at the insertion point and collision avoidance with the other robotic arms and obstacles in the environment. We'll discuss how this motion control is achieved in real time while minimizing the task load on the surgeon.
In addition, we’ll cover several examples as a guide to building an intuitive and easy communication system with the robot through speech, gestures, voice and facial recognition.
Discussion topics include:
• Evolving design principles
• Improving ease of use during the design process
• Managing multimodal interfaces, including haptic feedback
• Achieving precision motion control
Prior to joining Boston Engineering, David was the lead mechanical engineer for an underwater hull-crawling vehicle program, where he was responsible for completing the vehicle design, test fixtures, test planning, and execution.
David received a Masters of Innovation and a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from Northeastern University.
As a mechanical engineer for the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC), he worked on the Dynamics and Durability Team to quantify the uncertainty in traditional terramechanics approaches and validate these numerical methods against experimental data. He also assisted in the design of a state-of-the-art terramechanics testing suite for light-weight ground vehicles and acted as the Dynamics Subject Matter Expert for the Army’s next generation simulation capability.
Prior to her work at ICS, Dorothy was a Ph.D. researcher at M.I.T., working on the design and usability of augmented reality systems for terrain analysis. She received her masters and Ph.D. from the Media Lab at M.I.T. She is also an adjunct faculty in the Design and Innovation program at Brandeis University.
