9617327 Kuipers, Benjamin J. Wood, Kristin L. The University of Texas at Austin CISE Research Instrumentation: Research on Assistive Intelligence To support several ongoing research projects in computer and information science and engineering, the Departments of Computer Sciences and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin are acquiring a mobile robot configured as an intelligent wheelchair. It consists of a powered wheelchair base augmented with proximity sensors, visual sensors, manipulation capability, speech input and output, and onboard computation. The robot provides a test and application for our Spatial Semantic Hierarchy theory of spatial knowledge in the cognitive map, and for our research on goal-oriented computer vision. It also supports a collaboration between University of Texas researchers and occupational therapists at the Rosedale School in Austin, developing the intelligent wheelchair as assistive technology for people with disabilities such as cerebral palsy. Advances in intelligent robotics serve the assistive technology application by improving the service the wheelchair can provide for its driver. Meanwhile, the presence of an intelligent driver can compensate for limitations of the robot.The results of this research should be important for other application areas where intelligent man-machine systems would be useful, including space telerobotics, manufacturing and construction automation, and intelligent transportation systems.
