School of Information Technology, Engineering, Mathematics & Physics, The University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji.
PLoS One. 2024 Sep 20;19(9):e0310024. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0310024. eCollection 2024.
Adaptation to technological advancements and intelligent digital tools can enable healthcare providers to overcome the challenges of their patient-oriented care systems and processes. One such intelligent tool is automated assistive robots, which can improve patient care and safety in the health sector. This paper presents an invariant set of continuous nonlinear control laws for an assistive robot and a rehabilitation wheelchair robot modeled as a new autonomous robotic dog and rehabilitation wheelchair system for navigating a highly constrained environment. The control laws are derived from the Lyapunov-based control scheme classified under the umbrella of artificial potential field (APF) methods, and inherently proved stability of the new heterogeneous system. The robotic dog guides the wheelchair robot during the navigation process in a cluttered environment where the avoidances are from the robotic dog and the integrated dynamic protective polygon. The wheelchair traverses the obstacle-free path traced by the dynamic polygon. The leash is flexible, and its length is bounded, which invariably provides the protective polygon to change its intrinsic dimension. Thus, the dual-robot system has increased mobility for obstacle avoidance and passing through narrow passageways. The solution proffered herein is only feasible in a highly constrained and isolated human environment where nothing else appears to be moving in the direction of the robotic dog and wheelchair. The computer simulations and associated convergence graphs present the efficacy of the unique control laws for the new heterogeneous robotic system. Adoption of such control laws and their suitable variants can make a big impact in the healthcare industry.
适应技术进步和智能数字工具可以使医疗保健提供者克服以患者为中心的护理系统和流程的挑战。智能工具之一是自动化辅助机器人，它可以提高卫生部门的患者护理和安全性。本文提出了一套连续非线性控制律不变集，用于辅助机器人和康复轮椅机器人建模为新型自主机器人狗和康复轮椅系统，用于在高度受限的环境中导航。控制律是从基于 Lyapunov 的控制方案中得出的，该方案属于人工势场 (APF) 方法的范畴，并内在地证明了新异构系统的稳定性。机器人狗在杂乱环境中引导轮椅机器人进行导航，避免来自机器人狗和集成的动态保护多边形。轮椅在由动态多边形跟踪的无障碍路径上行驶。皮带是灵活的，其长度是有界的，这始终为保护多边形提供改变其固有尺寸的能力。因此，双机器人系统具有更高的机动性，可用于避免障碍物和通过狭窄的通道。本文提出的解决方案仅在高度受限和孤立的人类环境中可行，在该环境中，没有其他任何东西似乎朝着机器人狗和轮椅的方向移动。计算机模拟和相关的收敛图展示了新异构机器人系统独特控制律的有效性。采用这些控制律及其合适的变体可以对医疗保健行业产生重大影响。
