A novel platform supporting multiple control strategies for assistive robots

Abstract

This work presents a platform for the development of a functional prototype for assistive robotic vehicles supporting various control strategies in the context of a smart environment. The implemented framework allows an operator with a disability to interact with a smart environment by means of handfree devices (small movements of the face or limbs through Electromyograph (EMG), or Electroencephalograph (EEG), among others). The present work also details the integration and testing of four control strategies (manual control, shared control, point to go, and fully autonomous), giving the user the opportunity to choose among them based on the structure of the environment, personal preference, or capability. An intelligent assistive agent was integrated into the framework which helps the operator navigating the user interface and interacting with the environment. The controls performances for a common scenario are compared to validate the platform and compare the implemented navigation algorithms, and experimental results are presented and discussed.