Fast and reliable communication between human worker(s) and robotic assistants is essential for successful collaboration between the agents. This is especially true for typically noisy manufacturing environments that render verbal communication less effective. In this work, we investigate the efficacy of nonverbal communication capabilities of robotic manipulators that have poseable, three-fingered end-effectors (hands). We explore the extent to which different poses of a typical robotic gripper can effectively communicate instructional messages during human–robot collaboration. Within the context of a collaborative car door assembly task, we conducted a series of three studies. We first observed the type of hand configurations that humans use to nonverbally instruct another person (Study 1, N = 17); based on the observation, we examined how well human gestures with frequently used hand configurations are understood by recipients of the message (Study 2, N = 140). Finally, we implemented the most human-recognized human hand configurations on a seven-degree-of-freedom robotic manipulator to investigate the efficacy of having human-inspired hand poses on a robotic hand compared to an unposed hand (Study 3, N = 100).
Contributions of this work include presentation of a set of hand configurations humans commonly use to instruct another person in a collaborative assembly scenario, as well as recognition rate and recognition confidence measures for the gestures that humans and robots express using different hand configurations. Results indicate that most gestures are better recognized with a higher level of confidence when displayed with a posed robot hand.
It is well-understood that wound care poses a significant burden on the healthcare system and patient well-being. As such, it is imperative to develop efficient methods that facilitate tissue repair. Our group previously developed a nutritional gel scaffold, proven to accelerate wound repair. Due to its gel-like properties, this scaffold requires a time-consuming reconstitution, and is optimized for cavernous wounds. This pilot study examined the feasibility of a powdered form of this scaffold to accelerate healing of full-thickness wounds, thus broadening the range of applications, while providing a practical product. Splinted full-thickness wounds were generated on the backs of 6 mice, and treated with either powder, the original gel scaffold, or no treatment. Feasibility and efficacy of the powder was assessed through comparison of clinical wound measurements and histological assessments. There was a significant effect of treatment on rate of epithelialization [H(3) = 8.346, p = 0.0024] and on days to epithelial closure [H(3) = 8.482, p = 0.0061]. Post hoc analysis revealed that while requiring no reconstitution and simple to apply, the powder was sufficient to accelerate epithelialization compared to untreated wounds (p < 0.05). Furthermore, our results suggest that application of this powder did not alter certain processes associated with healing progress, such as epidermal thickness and collagen deposition. As such, this powder may provide a novel alternative to our previously developed gel scaffold by accelerating epithelialization, while providing a practical product. Future studies necessitate further evaluation of healing measures with a larger sample size.
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