居家環境下應用遠端臨場機器人與高齡者之互動溝通

「遠端臨場」技術是結合虛擬實境、人機介面、通訊技術與機械人的新興研究領域，運用遠端臨場機器人進行遠距溝通，複製了人們三度空間真實面對面接觸的經驗，兩端的人有同處同一空間的真實感，是一個截然不同的遠距溝通方式。大多數已開發國家正面對人口老化的問題，高齡者生理及心理健康照護，是相當急迫的課題。特別是許多高齡者傾向在宅老化，更需要發展方法和工具使高齡者能以合理的成本安全地住在家裡，許多希望幫助老人進行日常生活活動、改善其生活品質的服務型機器人應運而生。本論文開發一個遠端臨場機器人TRIC，使子女和照護者能在居家環境下與高齡者進行遠距互動溝通，同時並發展其在遠距居家照護上的應用。TRIC被定位成一個低價位、輕型機器人，能像家電產品一般很容易在家中使用，期待TRIC可以成為子女或照護者與高齡者遠距互動溝通、表達關切的方便工具，也是一個遠距居家照護的工具。

關鍵字

遠端臨場；人際溝通；自主行為能力；機器人；居家照護

並列摘要

“Telepresence” is an interesting field that includes virtual reality implementations with human-system interfaces, communication technologies, and robotics. This thesis describes the development of a telepresence robot called TRIC (Telepresence Robot for Interpersonal Communication) for the purpose of interpersonal communication with the elderly in a home environment. The main aim behind TRIC’s development is to allow elderly populations to remain in their home environments, while loved ones and caregivers are able to maintain a higher level of communication and monitoring than via traditional methods. TRIC aims to be a low-cost, lightweight robot, which can be easily implemented in the home environment. Under this goal, decisions on the design elements included are discussed. In particular, the implementation of key autonomous behaviors in TRIC to increase the user’s capability of projection of self and operation of the telepresence robot, in addition to increasing the interactive capability of the participant as a dialogist are emphasized. Anthropomorphic elements enhance the impression of TRIC as a true representation of the remote user. Design of humanoid appearance and interactive behaviors for TRIC can facilitate interaction with participants. The technical development and integration of the modules in TRIC, as well as human factors considerations are then described. Preliminary functional tests show that new users were able to effectively navigate TRIC and easily locate visual targets. Subjective evaluation result also shows that TRIC successfully gave the operator a physical representation for communication and interaction with subjects. Finally the future developments of TRIC, especially the possibility of using TRIC for home tele-health monitoring and tele-homecare visits are discussed.

並列關鍵字

Telepresence ； Interpersonal communication ； autonomous behaviors ； robot ； tele-homecare

參考文獻

[1] Sheridan, T. B., 1992a, Telerobotics, Automation and Human Supervisory Control, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

[2] Sheridan, T. B., 1992b, “Musing on telepresence and virtual presence,” Presence: Teleoperatiors and Virtual Environment, 1, 120-126.

[4] Draper, J. V., 1995, “Teleoperators for advanced manufacturing: applications and human factors challenges,” International Journal of Human Factors in Manufacturing, 5(1), 53-85.

[5] Schloerb, D. W., 1995, “A Quantitative Measure of Telepresence,” Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 4(1), 64-80.

[6] Shibata, T., 2004, “An overview of human interactive robots for psychological enrichment,” Proceedings of the IEEE, 92(11), 1749-1758.

國際替代計量

居家環境下應用遠端臨場機器人與高齡者之互動溝通

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