Medical Telepresence Robot Social Rules for Personal Space Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current technologies for medical telepresence robots fail to effectively navigate healthcare facilities while adhering to social protocols and avoiding obstacles, people, and biohazards, which can lead to discomfort or anxiety among hospital staff and patients.
Innovation Solution
The development of a medical telepresence robot equipped with autonomous navigation, social behaviors component, object detection system, communication system, and biohazard detection, allowing it to move harmoniously with humans, avoid collisions, and respond to emergencies while maintaining social distancing and etiquette.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the robot navigates autonomously through healthcare facilities, then communication efficiency and accessibility are improved, but social protocols and personal space boundaries may be violated causing discomfort or anxiety among staff and patients
Solution Approach 1:
The robot performs preliminary actions by detecting humans and objects in advance using sensors, planning navigation paths that preemptively avoid personal space violations, and adjusting speeds before approaching individuals. This allows the robot to maintain productive communication while preventing social discomfort through advance preparation of socially appropriate navigation behavior.
Solution Approach 2:
The robot dynamically adjusts its navigation behavior based on real-time detection of humans, objects, and environmental context. It modifies speeds, trajectories, and interaction distances adaptively to maintain socially appropriate boundaries while preserving communication efficiency. The system transitions between different operational modes depending on detected social contexts.
2Loss of time
If the robot moves quickly to reach destinations, then time efficiency is improved, but collision risk with obstacles and people increases
Solution Approach 1:
The robot performs preliminary detection of obstacles and humans using sensors before initiating movement. It pre-calculates safe navigation paths and adjusts speeds in advance based on detected environmental conditions, allowing efficient traversal while maintaining collision avoidance through proactive risk assessment and path planning.
Solution Approach 2:
The robot continuously receives feedback from sensors detecting obstacles, humans, and environmental conditions during navigation. This real-time feedback enables dynamic adjustment of speeds and trajectories, allowing the system to maintain high time efficiency while reliably avoiding collisions through continuous monitoring and adaptive response to changing conditions.
3Ease of operation
If the robot maintains close proximity to patients and staff for effective communication, then interaction quality is improved, but personal space boundaries are violated causing anxiety
Solution Approach 1:
The robot dynamically adjusts its distance from patients and staff based on real-time detection of individual preferences, environmental context, and social norms. It modulates interaction proximity adaptively to maintain high-quality communication while respecting personal space boundaries, transitioning between closer and farther positions as social contexts require.
Solution Approach 2:
The robot applies different spatial interaction rules to different individuals and situations. It adjusts personal space boundaries locally based on detected factors such as patient condition, staff role, environmental setting, and cultural context, allowing optimized interaction quality for each specific encounter while maintaining appropriate boundaries.
4Adaptability or versatility
If the robot navigates through crowded areas to access patients, then accessibility is improved, but disturbance to ongoing activities and conversations increases
Solution Approach 1:
The robot performs preliminary detection of crowded areas, ongoing conversations, and active activities using sensors before navigating through them. It pre-plans routes that minimize disruption by identifying appropriate timing and pathways, allowing improved accessibility to patients while reducing activity disturbance through advance assessment of environmental contexts.
Solution Approach 2:
The robot dynamically adjusts its navigation behavior in crowded areas based on real-time detection of ongoing activities and conversations. It modifies speeds, trajectories, and interaction patterns adaptively to maintain accessibility to patients while minimizing disturbance to ongoing hospital activities through continuous environmental awareness and responsive adjustment.
Data Source
AI summary
Devices, systems, and methods for social behavior of a telepresence robot are disclosed herein. A telepresence robot may include a drive system, a control system, an object detection system, and a social behaviors component. The drive system is configured to move the telepresence robot. The control system is configured to control the drive system to drive the telepresence robot around a work area. The object detection system is configured to detect a human in proximity to the telepresence robot. The social behaviors component is configured to provide instructions to the control system to cause the telepresence robot to operate according to a first set of rules when a presence of one or more humans is not detected and operate according to a second set of rules when the presence of one or more humans is detected.