A Robotic Companion for Therapeutic Applications
January 2005 — December 2006
Many people lack access to companion animals or pet therapy. One alternative to the benefits that pets offer
has been to use robots, such as Sony’s AIBO, as pet surrogates. Since these types of robotic platforms were never originally designed to be
used in this way, they do not invite the same types of interactions experienced with an animal, such as petting and other forms of affective
touch.
The Huggable is an interactive teddy bear, designed to be a new type of robotic companion for therapeutic
applications. The primary design goals are
- To be viscerally and emotionally pleasing to interact with, both with respect to how it feels to touch and how it responds to people.
- To provide measurable health benefits to people.
- To be a useful tool for the nursing staff or other care providers that augments existing animal assisted therapy programs (if present).
- To be a computationally flexible platform that allows us to explore other applications for the Huggable technology.
Given these goals, the Huggable is being developed with a number of technological features—the most significant
of which is a full-body sensate skin consisting of three different types of somatic sensors (electric field, temperature, and force) over the
entire surface of the robot. The sensate skin technology resides underneath a soft silicone skin and fur fabric covering to make the teddy
bear pleasing to touch. Other sensors include an inertial measurement unit, cameras embedded in the eyes, and microphones in the ears. We have
incorporated a new kind of voice coil actuator (with position sensing) to give the Huggable silent, compliant, and backlash-free movement in
the neck, shoulders, and face. These actuators are driven by a custom-designed motor controller board. An embedded Windows PC with wireless
communication capabilities is used to implement the Huggable’s behaviors, as well as provide the nursing staff with patient monitoring, and
data collection capabilities.
Student Participants:
Dan Stiehl
Jeff Lieberman
Faculty Advisor:
Dan Stiehl, Jeff Lieberman
Additional Information:
http://icampus.mit.edu/projects/Huggable.shtml
http://robotic.media.mit.edu/projects/theHuggable.html
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Library Access to Music Project
February 2002 — December 2006
The illeg al sharing of digital music content across users at universities has generated headlines and
lawsuits. However, the availability of legal access to university music libraries can enhance the quality of life and learning for
students. The LAMP project explored the idea that the licensing rules governing analog transmission are very different than for digital,
and thus, using the MIT cable network, music on demand can be provided much more cheaply than over the MIT digital network.
Using a large, legally acquired library of both classical and contemporary music, LAMP allowed students to
play music on demand over the analog MIT Cable network, controlling track selection via a browser. Easy access was provided through 16
TV channels of music across the MIT Cable network. This project showcased how a single university music collection could be shared and
enjoyed both efficiently and legally.
Student Participants:
Keith Winstein
Josh Mandel
Additional Information:
http://icampus.mit.edu/projects/LAMP.shtml
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