Description du projet
Des robots d’assistance au secours des personnes dans les environnements encombrés
Naviguer de manière autonome et assister les humains dans des environnements encombrés constitue un défi de taille pour les robots mobiles. Ces robots sont programmés pour s’arrêter lorsqu’ils s’approchent d’obstacles ou de personnes afin d’éviter les collisions, ce qui entrave leur fonctionner efficace dans des zones densément fréquentées. Le projet CROWDBOT, financé par l’UE, entend combler le manque de connaissances concernant les interactions étroites entre les robots et les humains pendant leurs déplacements. En améliorant les capacités de détection, de cognition et de navigation des robots, CROWDBOT entend permettre aux robots mobiles de manœuvrer en toute sécurité au milieu des foules. En se concentrant sur des scénarios réalistes, dont un fauteuil roulant, le robots Pepper et cuyBot, CROWDBOT abordera les questions d’éthique et de sécurité par le biais de lignes directrices spécifiques. Les résultats auront un impact considérable sur les applications scientifiques et industrielles, telles que la gestion du trafic de foule assistée par des robots.
Objectif
CROWDBOT will enable mobile robots to navigate autonomously and assist humans in crowded areas. Today’s robots are programmed to stop when a human, or any obstacle is too close, to avoid coming into contact while moving. This prevents robots from entering densely frequented areas and performing effectively in these high dynamic environments. CROWDBOT aims to fill in the gap in knowledge on close interactions between robots and humans during navigation tasks. The project considers three realistic scenarios: 1) a semi-autonomous wheelchair that must adapt its trajectory to unexpected movements of people in its vicinity to ensure neither its user nor the pedestrians around it are injured; 2) the commercially available Pepper robot that must navigate in a dense crowd while actively approaching people to assist them; 3) the under development robot cuyBot will adapt to compact crowd, being touched and pushed by people. These scenarios generate numerous ethical and safety concerns which this project addresses through a dedicated Ethical and Safety Advisory Board that will design guidelines for robots engaging in interaction in crowded environments.
CROWDBOT gathers the required expertise to develop new robot capabilities to allow robots to move in a safe and socially acceptable manner. This requires achieving step changes in a) sensing abilities to estimate the crowd motion around the robot, b) cognitive abilities for the robot to predict the short term evolution of the crowd state and c) navigation abilities to perform safe motion at close range from people.
Through demonstrators and open software components, CROWDBOT will show that safe navigation tasks can be achieved within crowds and will facilitate incorporating its results into mobile robots, with significant scientific and industrial impact. By extending the robot operation field toward crowded environments, we enable possibilities for new applications, such as robot-assisted crowd traffic management.
Champ scientifique
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringcolors
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringaerospace engineeringaircraft
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesartificial intelligencecomputer vision
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensors
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringrobotics
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinateur
78153 Le Chesnay Cedex
France