John McBean

Mobile, dexterous, social robots for mobile manipulation and human-robot interaction

The purpose of this platform is to support research and education goals in human-robot interaction and mobile manipulation with applications that require the integration of these abilities. In particular, our research aims to develop personal robots that work with people as capable teammates to assist in eldercare, healthcare, domestic chores, and other physical tasks that require robots to serve as competent members of human-robot teams. The robot’s small, agile design is particularly well suited to human-robot interaction and coordination in human living spaces. Our collaborators include the Laboratory for Perceptual Robotics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Xitome Design, Meka Robotics, and digitROBOTICS.

Voice coil actuators for human-robot interaction

The growing field of human-robot interaction (HRI) demands robots that move fluidly, gracefully, compliantly and safely. This paper describes our recent work in the design and evaluation of long-travel voice coil actuators (VCAs) for use in robots intended for interacting with people. The basic advantages and shortcomings of electromagnetic actuators are discussed and evaluated in the context of human-robot interaction, and are compared to alternative actuation technologies. Voice coil actuators have been chosen for their controllability, ease of implementation, geometry, compliance, biomimetic actuation characteristics, safety, quietness, and high power density.

Interactive robot theatre

This work motivates interactive robot theatre as an interesting test bed to explore research issues in the development of sociable robots and to investigate the relationship between autonomous robots and intelligent environments. We present the implementation of our initial exploration in this area highlighting three core technologies. First, an integrated show control software development platform for the design and control of an intelligent stage. Second, a stereo vision system that tracks multiple features on multiple audience participants in real-time. Third, an interactive, autonomous robot performer with natural and expressive movement that combines techniques from character animation and robot control.

Public anemone: an organic robot creature

We have created an articulated robotic creature and situated it within an interactive terrarium to explore the aesthetic, expressive, and interactive qualities that give robots an organic and engaging presence to people.