We are developing robotic technologies that enhance the quality of service in Hong Kong. Service robots are usually more intelligent than conventional industrial robots, with capabilities and functions made specific to the service tasks. Driven by market needs, creative mechatronics designs exploiting sensing, control, processing and integration technologies must be produced to solve key application problems. We develop robotic technologies that are specifically useful in service applications, and examine these technologies with the following service robot systems that we are developing.
Hospital transporting and laboratory automation robot: a robot that can transport medical specimens, equipment, and medical documents, and at the same time, can be used for sorting and moving automatically for pathology laboratory operations. High-rise building wall cleaning robot: a robot that can climb on walls of high-rise building to clean glass window and other exterior surface.
Floor cleaning robot: a robot can automatically clean a large public area, such as airport or meeting hall, with an omnidirectional mobility and an on-board power.
A semi-automatic ultrasonic 3D reconstruction system: a passive robot which can automatically measure position and orientation of an ultrasonic scanning head, works with a 3D reconstruction software to generate models of fetuses.
Though applications in service industry vary, they share the common set of fundamental research issues that are interwoven and must be addressed in a systematic way, as proposed below.
Motion planning and localization: develop efficient algorithms based on the model of environment and/or sensing to generate a collision free path for real-time execution.
Human skill learning and transfer: investigate the problem of modeling and transferring human skills to service robots with a reasonable fidelity.
Human-robot coordination and interface: develop computing environment and interfacing where human and robot can communicate and tasks are shared in a reciprocal manner.
Robot-facility interface: develop an effective way for service robots to control the facility in building and construction environment.
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