In this sixth part of the ShanghAI Lecture series, Rolf Pfeifer introduces the topic “Artificial Evolution” and gives examples of evolutionary processes in artificial intelligence. The first guest lecture, by Francesco Mondada (EPFL) is about the use of robots in daily life; in the second guest lecture, Robert Riener (ETH Zürich) talks about rehabilitation robots.

The ShanghAI Lectures are a videoconference-based lecture series on Embodied Intelligence run by Rolf Pfeifer and organized by me and partners around the world.

Francesco Mondada: Toward Robots For Daily Life

In a recent survey from the European Commission, 60% of the participants said that robots should be banned from the application area “care of children, elderly, and the disabled”, 34% would like to ban robots from “education”. Within this framework, what is the future of robotics in daily life services? Two research projects answering this question are presented in this talk: education using specific robotics tools and a new form of embodiment for service robotics. Some preliminary results are illustrated, showing a very interesting potential demonstrated by a high acceptance of the proposed approaches.

Robert Riener: Design Principles for Intelligent Rehabilitation Robots

Integrating the human into a robotic rehabilitation system can be challenging not only from a biomechanical view but also with regard to psycho-physiological aspects. Biomechanical integration involves ensuring that the system to be used is ergonomically acceptable and “user-cooperative”. Psycho-physiological integration involves recording and controlling the patient’s physiological reactions so that the patient receives appropriate stimuli and is challenged in a moderate but engaging way. In this talk basic design criteria are presented that should be taken into account, when developing and applying an intelligent robotic system that is in close interaction with the human subject. One must carefully take into account the constraints given by human biomechanical, physiological and psychological functions in order to optimize device function without causing undue stress or harm to the human user.

References:

• Robert Riener, Lars Lünenburger, Gery Colombo: Human-centered robotics applied to gait training and assessment, Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development, 43(5), August/September 2006, p. 679-694.
• Alexander Koenig, Ximena Omlin, Lukas Zimmerli, Mark Sapa, Carmen Krewer, Marc Bolliger, Friedemann Müller, Robert Riener:Psychological state estimation from physiological recordings during robot-assisted gait rehabilitation, Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development, 48(4), accepted for publication, 2011
• Robert Riener: What Has to Be Known about Human Physiology to Develop Wearable Robots? Workshop on Wearable Robotics, IEEE ICRA 2012, St. Paul, USA

Related links:

• Slides (9.7 MB)
• ShanghAI Lectures website
• Book: How the Body Shapes the Way We Think