Adaptive Robot Navigation for User-Specific Interaction Preferences
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing computing devices lack the ability to autonomously navigate to various destinations, limiting the functionality of automated assistants in tasks that require movement between locations, such as rendering audio content or performing specific operations by devices like autonomous vacuums.
Innovation Solution
A robotic device capable of navigating to a user or communicating information between users, which can receive spoken utterances, determine probable locations of users based on interaction data and home graph correlations, and execute tasks such as playing music or providing notifications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If computing devices are manually controlled by users to navigate to destinations, then the device can perform tasks at specific locations, but the user experience is limited and requires repetitive manual control
Solution Approach 1:
The robotic device autonomously navigates to destinations and performs tasks without requiring continuous manual control from the user. The device independently determines its location, plans paths to target destinations, and executes tasks such as delivering objects or providing notifications, thereby serving itself and reducing user burden while maintaining task performance capability
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-mapping the environment and storing location data before tasks are executed. When a user requests a task, the device already has the necessary navigation information prepared, allowing it to quickly and autonomously navigate to the destination without requiring real-time user guidance
2Adaptability or versatility
If autonomous devices are used to perform tasks, then navigation between locations is enabled, but the devices lack the ability to handle diverse actions with specificity
Solution Approach 1:
The robotic device is designed as a universal platform capable of performing multiple diverse tasks including navigation, object delivery, notifications, and interactions with other smart devices. Rather than requiring specialized devices for each function, this single device handles various actions through a unified system architecture that processes different task types through common navigation and execution mechanisms
3Productivity
If robotic devices navigate autonomously to users, then user assistance is improved, but computational resources are consumed for proactive operations
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses feedback mechanisms to determine when proactive navigation is appropriate. By monitoring user behavior patterns, device locations, and interaction histories, the robotic device intelligently decides whether to autonomously navigate and assist, thereby balancing user assistance efficiency with computational resource consumption based on actual need rather than operating continuously
Data Source
AI summary
Implementations set forth herein relate to a robotic computing device that can perform certain operations, such as communicating between users in a common space, according to certain preferences of the users. When interacting with a particular user, the robotic computing device can perform an operation at a preferred location relative to the particular user based on an express or implied preference of that particular user. For instance, certain types of operations can be performed at a first location within a room, and other types of operations can be performed at a second location within the room. When an operation involves following or guiding a user, parameters for driving the robotic computing device can be selected based on preferences of the user and/or a context in which the robotic computing device is interacting with the user (e.g., whether or not the context indicates some amount of urgency).