被動式行動輔助機器人之導引與避障

Abstract

近年來，人口老化的問題日益嚴重，照顧銀髮族的生活起居成為一個重要的課題。其中機器人也將扮演一個重要的角色，提供了多功能的行動輔助，而隨著機器人科技的進步，各式各樣的行動輔助機器人之發展越趨成熟。基於安全性及復健功能的考量之下，被動式行動輔助機器人也應運而生，但在真實環境中，要如何讓被動式行動輔助機器人能夠有效的導引使用者到達目標，並且避開障礙物，是相當重要的研究議題，基於此，本論文提出導引與避障設計之方法，結合環境資訊並實踐於我們所研發的被動式行動輔助機器人i-Go上，包括被動導引，避障導引以及斜坡導引三種功能。其中，被動導引功能在已知環境情況下可導引使用者到目標位置外，還可朝向使用者希冀的方向；避障導引部分結合了避障策略以及被動導引功能，能夠在未知的環境下導引使用者閃避障礙物，到達目標位置以及希冀的朝向角；斜坡導引演算法則可在斜坡上達到與被動導引相同的功效，並且能夠有效減低使用者在戶外環境上坡時的負擔。

Nowadays, the problem of aging population becomes much more serious. How to take good care of the elderly is now an important issue around the world. Robots can play an important role in being able to provide functional mobility to elderly. And, various kinds of robot walking helpers have been developed. For the safety concern and rehabilitation, the passive types of robot walking helpers come forward. For practical applications, it is crucial for them to effectively guide the user to the desired target with accurate orientation. For the passive robot walking helper, this dissertation proposes schemes of guidance and obstacle avoidance approaches, including passive guidance, guidance with obstacle avoidance and slope guidance. The passive guidance approach can guide the user to the desired target with accurate orientation in the known environment. The guidance law with obstacle avoidance integrates the obstacle avoidance strategy with that of the passive guidance to guide the user not only to avoid obstacles, but also to the desired target. The slope guidance not only achieves what of passive guidance is capable of, but also reduces the user's burden when the user walks uphill in the outdoor environment. The proposed schemes are realized in the i-Go, the passive robot walking helper developed in our laboratory.