Implementation of Object Fetching Task and Human Subject Tests Using an Assistive Robot

This study presents implementation of an object fetching task with a mobile robotic platform (PR2) for hospital patients. The primary goal of this study is to define the requirements for a robotic nursing assistants. The designed application scenario consists of PR2 robotic platform, human subject as the patient, and a tablet for patient-robot communication. The PR2 robot understands patient’s request and fetches the requested object by performing automated action steps. For this designed scenario, human subject experiments are performed. Furthermore, all human subject test results are presented and observations during tests are provided. These activities are part of a larger effort to establish adaptive robotic nursing assistants for physical tasks in hospital environments.