As need increases, access decreases. It is a paradox that as human motor impairments become more severe, and increasing assistance need is paired with decreasing motor ability, the very machines created to provide this assistance become less and less accessible to operate with independence.
A primary aim of the assistive & rehabilitation robotics laboratory (argallab) at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab (formerly the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago) is to address this paradox by incorporating robotics autonomy and intelligence into assistive machines. By turning the machine into a kind of robot, we can offload some of the control burden from the user onto the machine. Robots already synthetically sense, act in, and reason about the world, and these technologies can be leveraged to help bridge the gap left by sensory, motor, or cognitive impairments in people who use assistive machines.
The potential impact for robotics technologies on the field of rehabilitation is tremendous. The handful of application areas to date—robotic wheelchairs, robotic arms, machines for physical therapy, the burgeoning area of robotic aides—only begin to scratch the surface. Our lab carves out an unrivaled space as the only academic robotics autonomy lab in the country located inside of a rehabilitation hospital. We program robots literally steps from inpatients receiving physical therapy, validate extensively with end-users, and gain unparalleled insight into the nuanced question of how to arbitrate control between man and machine.
Our research contributes knowledge to the science of sharing control between humans and autonomous systems, has pioneered the area of interface-aware robotic intelligence, and reframes the delivery of assistance by accounting for human impairment throughout the robotics autonomy pipeline, from interface actuation to learned robot behaviors. We are working with a range of hardware platforms, from smart wheelchairs to assistive robotic arms. More information about our research projects can be found here.
By easing the control burden of assistive machines, the argallab strives to advance human autonomy through robotics autonomy.
News
For the most recent news about our lab and research, follow us on LinkedIn.
September 2018
The lab is awarded an NSF CPS grant: Information-based Control of Cyber-Physical Systems Operating in Uncertain Environments. (In collaboration with Todd Murphey.)
Alex’s paper Operation and Imitation under Safety-Aware Shared Control is accepted to WAFR.
June 2018
The lab is awarded an NIH R01 grant: Human and Machine Learning for Customized Control of Assistive Robots. (In collaboration with Sandro Mussa-Ivaldi.)
Siddarth’s paper Recursive Bayesian Intent Inference in Shared-Control Robotics is accepted to IROS.
May 2018
Brenna’s invited paper Autonomy in Rehabilitation Robotics: An Intersection is published in the inaugural issue of the Annual Review of Control, Robotics, and Autonomous Systems.
April 2018
The lab demos in the Museum of Science and Industry for National Robotics Week.
October 2017
Brenna is an invited speaker and panelist at the CCC Symposium on Computing Research Addressing National Priorities and Societal Needs in DC (AI and Amplifying Human Abilities Panel).
June 2017
Michael, Mahdieh and Ahmetcan’s paper An Analysis of Degraded Communication Channels in Human-Robot Teaming and Implications for Dynamic Autonomy Allocation is accepted to FSR.
April 2017
Ahmetcan’s article The Effect Robotic Wheelchair Control Paradigm and Interface on User Performance, Effort and Preference: An Experimental Assessment is accepted to RAS.
Deepak’s paper Mode Switch Assistance To Maximize Human Intent Disambiguation is accepted to RSS.
Alex’s paper Learning Models for Shared Control of Human-Machine Systems with Unknown Dynamics is accepted to RSS.
Ahmetcan’s paper Prediction of User Preference over Shared-Control Paradigms for a Robotic Wheelchair is accepted to ICORR.
The lab demos in the Museum of Science and Industry for National Robotics Week.
March 2017
We moved! RIC is now the Shirely Ryan AbilityLab.
Farewell to our lab space at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago:
Alex’s paper Real-Time Natural Language Corrections for Assistive Manipulation Tasks is accepted to IJRR.
February 2017
Brenna’s Special Issue on Assistive and Rehabilitation Robotics is published in Autonomous Robots.
December 2016
Brenna is named one of the 40 under 40 by Crain’s Chicago Business.
September 2016
Our lab’s work has been in the news! Check out the coverage in Digital Trends, Crain’s Chicago Business, The Big Ten Network and NPR’s Morning Edition.
For an overview of what we are about, check out Brenna’s recent CMU Robotics Institute Seminar:
June 2016
Alex’s paper Trust-based Control for Safe and Stable Shared Control Between Humans and Robots is accepted to RA-L and CASE.
Deepak and Siddarth’s paper User-Driven Customization of Shared Autonomy with an Assistive Robotic Arm: A First Assessment is accepted to RA-L and CASE.
Mahdieh’s paper Automated Incline and Drop-off Detection for Assistive Powered Wheelchairs is accepted to RO-MAN.
April 2016
Manuela Veloso visits our lab. Check out the family photo!
The lab demos in the Museum of Science and Industry for National Robotics Week.
February 2016
Brenna wins the NSF Early Faculty CAREER Award, for her proposal Robot Learning from Motor-Impaired Teachers and Task Partners.
Brenna wins an ONR award, Dynamic Allocation of Autonomy for Limited-Bandwidth Human-Robot Teams Based on Measures of Trust in the Human.
January 2016
Alex’s paper Path Planning under Kinematic Constraints for Shared Human-Robot Control is accepted to ICAPS.
Siddarth’s paper Grasp Detection for Assistive Robotic Manipulation is accepted to ICRA.
Brenna wins an NIH SBIR award, Semi-autonomous Robotic Powered Wheelchair Functionality (collaboration with Innovative Design Labs).
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