PRE2019 4 Group5
Group members
| Name | Student number | Study |
|---|---|---|
| Danielle Paige Gillam | 1227637 | Psychology & Technology (ICT) |
| Lucia Kalkman | 1335529 | Electrical Engineering |
| Annemijn Cissy van der Lande | 1239822 | Psychology & Technology (Robotics) |
| Dajt Mullaj | 1286722 | Computer Science |
| Fabiènne Pascalle van der Weide | 1004980 | Psychology & Technology (ICT) |
Introduction
Nowadays, more and more automated technology in the vehicles industry is making its entrance in society. With the current situation of COVID-19, people are forced to live in social distancing societies, which results for some social groups in major challenges to continue living in a normal and healthy way. One of the major issues society is facing is maintaining the health of people who have to stay home, but still need to receive their medicines. Delivery robots could give an outcome in this situation and might give perspectives for after the COVID-19 influenced society. [1] These robots are already in use, in several situations, environments and forms. Furthermore, they are currently experimenting with these delivery robots for multiple purposes.[2]
Problem Statement
This project will explore how to implement a system of autonomous robots for the delivery of medicine and goods to the elderly and sick people. The system could then be used in hospitals to help the staff with intensive care units and for deliveries from pharmacies directly to houses or elderly homes. To sustain an efficient delivery scheme the project will develop a prototype for a multi compartment robot. Each compartment will contain medicine for a specific delivery, so that in a single trip the robot will visit multiple houses or contain all the drugs for each elder of an elderly home. The prototype will therefore be composed of two main parts, each solving a main problem of implementing delivery robots for medicines. The first part will be a software demonstrating the navigation system of a robot that needs to visit multiple houses before coming back to the pharmacy for the next delivery. The software will be written in NetLogo, a programming language and IDE for modeling agent-based environments. The second part of the prototype will consist in demonstrating the robot’s multi compartment system. To do that an app, written in Swift, will be developed and hardware representing a robot with more compartments will be assembled. The app will have an option to log in as a user or as a pharmacist/caretaker. The robot will have levers mimicking compartments opening or closing and a board to take inputs. As a user you will be able to order medicine through the app, which in turn will display a password to type on the robot’s board. When such action is performed the correct compartment containing the requested medicine will open. The project, moreover, takes into consideration that smartphones are not popular with the elderly. Therefore the latter or the caretaker assigned to an arbitrary elderly home can enter in contact with a pharmacist either by physically going to the pharmacy or by digital means, like with an email, and create a subscription for a delivery plan. They will then receive from the pharmacist a password, and on each delivery the pharmacist will furnish the robot and logging in the app will set the password for the specific compartment to the one agreed upon when the subscription was initiated. The project, as specified before, could also be used to perform deliveries within the hospital's ground in order to prevent the spread of infectious diseases among the healthcare staff.
Objectives
- Research the state of the art of the current autonomous delivery robots.
- Understand the requirements for delivery robots in the medical field.
- Design and implement a navigation system for autonomous delivery robots that finds the shortest path across multiple targets.
- Design and implement a multi compartment system that can lock each compartment by means of a password and communicates with an external application to set said passwords.
- Test both systems to understand their limitations and improve their functionalities.
State of the Art
What is currently in the field?
The types of robot forms that are currently under study and first use, can be subdivided into two areas: vehicles at the ground and in the air. The great advantage of using air-based delivery robots, like drones, is the reduced amount of interaction. However, traffic regulations are currently undefined. For the ground-based vehicles, both aspects named before are the opposite in here.
Another distinction that can be made, is the environment in which the delivery robot will perform. Currently, there are view hospitals in which robots are used to transport medicines to the patients. This is an example of inside transportation, minimizing path planning and the amount of traffic, but maximizing its demand for room recognition. [3] Also one aptheker has used delivery robots as an experiment by transporting the medicines to care-units where nurses took over the packages. The overall attitude towards this user experience was fine, but is influenced by the fact that both stakeholders had to minimally interact and were not involved in the technical liability issue. This is an example in the field of an outside environment where the robots had to face a lot of traffic and path planning, but less on room-recognition, since it delivered a package to one care unit. [4]
Furthermore, the purpose of transport can vary a lot. At the moment, drones and ground vehicles are mostly transporting goods like food and medicines, both giving an outcome for people who have transport difficulties or are not able to go outside because of their health. In Wuhan for example, the delivery robots are both already in experimenting use. [1] For food, real-time and path planning are really important. Another important aspect is its capacity of carrying a large amount of goods. It is therefore more common that riding vehicles carry these goods, whereas medicines are in smaller amounts but are more often carried by drones due to safety reasons. [5] Time plays a role in this as well, for instance: warm food needs to be delivered fast and vital donor organs need to be brought fast in war areas. <ref>Frachtenberg, E. (2019). Practical drone delivery. Computer, 52(12), 53–57.<\ref> We can conclude that the goal of the service provided can therefore play an important role in the design choices.
Lastly, the types of technique can be distinguished, since this varies a lot per delivery robot. We will discuss this by looking at path planning, coördination & recognition, mechanics and AI in general. Path planning/scheduling: Finding a feasible route of movement can be challenging for autonomous vehicles. Multiple algorithms are therefore proposed to improve its efficiency and safety on their path. These algorithms differ for robots that are returning or non-returning [14]. Also the use of GPS systems is a common tool in scheduling. Furthermore, a newer tool has been designed by making use of pedestrian flow, in which it adapts to the pedestrian potential equation based on the route estimation model [22]. When making a path planning outside, often a SLAM system is used, helping the robot to deal with the huge maps of city centers. It provides a large map of the surrounding environment [23]. This system takes the type of roads into account, traversability and provides a method for localization in dynamic environments [24]. Lastly, there are also central systems already that can map where all other robots are currently located, to generate as a pick up / order system, solving many problems in the communication between robots implementation on a larger scale [16]. Coördination & object recognition: A method for coordination is iGPS, this is working with ceiling cameras [9]. Another commonly used technique combination for coördination and object recognition is making use of artificial intelligence, ultrasonic sensors and cameras [2]. An example of this is the FedEx SameDay Bot — which looks like a cooler on wheels — is designed to travel on sidewalks and along roadsides to deliver small orders to homes and businesses [3]. This type of robot successfully passes objects on their way, like trash cans, skateboards etc. Moreover, another example is Amazon Scout devices; also using cameras and sensors for its planning and cöordination [4]. Furthermore, there are also robots that are capable of recognizing and distinguishing between rooms [5], making use of intelligent machine vision [12]. Mechanics: First of all, when looking at the ground vehicles, they have to face several problems on the road, so good mechanics are essential. At the moment, a wheel and track hybrid robot platform exists which is highly applicable to various urban environments. The developed robot platform has all advantages of track and wheel. Furthermore, this hybrid concept is highly energy-efficient because of its less-friction using wheels only on navigating flatland [25]. Moreover, new developments in the technologies of drone delivery are aircraft design, battery improvements, and control software. They could transform this industry and, consequently, society as a whole [13].
Finally, we should not forget to look at the current attitude people have towards this upcoming innovation. This is dependent on the perspective we look at. Current studies show this broadly, by making a distinction in the type of stakeholder. Random people in traffic for example will have different attitudes towards the robot than the receivers of the good [11]. Also the environmental footprint raises discussions: drones are a relatively sustainable transportation method, but the production is not. [15] However, one thing that is universal is that the delivery robot should be in balance with safety, ease of use, environment, goal and efficiency. Dependent on the welfare of the society, attitudes towards robots might differ. [11]
What are limitations and issues?
There are multiple problems before autonomous delivery robots can be fully used. In the following part the major issues will be stated that are currently holding back the implementation of delivery robots. One of the main problems is the attitude of society about automated vehicles. There are concerns about the safety of the transport, such things as hacking could cause problems. However, there are other concerns people have. For example whether more people will get unemployed when delivery robots are widely spread. People are also wondering whether a robot can reach every location, climbing stairs or entering a building could be difficult.[10] People also think that for example a sidewalk robot should not hinder pedestrians, which causes even more things to take care of when designing the robot. [8]
Another problem are all the technical issues. Is it possible for a robot to reach a higher efficiency, improve time and reduce cost and energy consumption. Will a robot be as reliable as a human? It should be able to deliver something within the same time and guarantee that the product arrives. [20] The biggest technical issue is the navigation and the interaction with the environment. This means the robot should always know where it is and where it’s goal is, but also what happens around him. What are possible dangers and what is the best possible way to get where it should be. Especially with a lot of individuals who don’t follow the same paths it can be difficult for a sidewalk robot to avoid them all. [22]The current technology is still struggling with this.
The final issues are the regulations. For UAV’s there are special regulations, and they are not allowed to fly everywhere, however, self-driving cars counter the same issues. They are not allowed on the road because of many ethical issues and some technical liabilities. The last option are sidewalk robots, which don’t have to meet as many regulations, but they are also difficult because pedestrians are hard to model and follow less strict paths. [6] All the different regulations in different countries and all the parts that are still very vague make it difficult to really develop delivery robots. Also questions like who is responsible for the robots mistakes make it less attractive to start working on delivery robots. [1]
Stakeholders
There are a number of different stakeholders when it comes to the field of medical delivery robots. Here the main stakeholders within the scopes of users, society and enterprise will be presented and discussed.
Users
The primary users of medical delivery robots are those who directly interact with the robot. Therefore sick or elderly people who require medicine deliveries will fall into this category. These patients will have to have sufficient understanding of how to interact with the robots and respective applications. Pharmacists and nurses will also be considered primary users as they will have to interact with the robot in order to fill it with sufficient supplies for respective patients and understand the operation of the application and robot. These users will be considered the most in the design process as they will use the robot for it's purpose, and so interface design choices as well as technical design choices will be made in order to best accommodate these users.
Society
Within society there are a number of stakeholders, the first being the Government. The Government are responsible for laws and regulations regarding the medical delivery robots, this includes traffic regulations as well as ethical laws.
The second stakeholder that is a part of the societal perspective is nurses caretakers and doctors. As well as being direct users of the robots in terms of stocking them with medicine, the medical delivery robots impact them in a less direct manner too. For example in the midst of a pandemic or an outbreak of disease, the fact that these health care workers are able to send a delivery robot to infected patients means that they reduce the risk of being infected themselves. Hospitals themselves are also stakeholders and due to the fact that hospitals are commonly hotspots for these outbreaks the reduction of infection of their staff will help prevent understaffing. The reduction of the spread of disease will additionally help society as a whole as well as reducing stress on governments.
The final societal stakeholders are people who encounter the medical delivery robots on the streets while they are performing their delivery or pick-up tasks. These individuals play an important role in the fabrication of laws and regulations as their lives will be affected by the robots without any direct gain from them. For example the possibility of disruption in pedestrian traffic or even the vandalisation of the robots will motivate respective regulations. In order to gain this stakeholder perspective a survey will be performed in order to gain insight from these stakeholders and their attitudes towards delivery robots.
Enterprise
Within the scope of Enterprise the main stakeholders are the technical companies which are developing the medical delivery robots as well as the hospitals and pharmacies with which they are partnered.
Approach
To achieve the objectives of the project five main parts of the development process have been defined: research, requirements analysis, specification analysis, implementation and testing. To better tackle each phase regular group meetings every week have been set. During these meetings the tasks for the current development processes phase are assigned to each team member.
Group organization
Each week a different group member occupies the position of chairperson. The responsibility of the chairperson is to establish an agenda before the meeting and mediate the discussion through the topics that are set in the agenda. Furthermore the chairperson must take the minutes of every meeting during that week and act as a representative of the group during the tutor meeting. The chairperson role rotates through the members in the team.
| Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mijntje | Dajt | Danielle | Fabiènne | Lucia | Mijntje |
Development process
The first phase of the development processes of the project is the research. During the latter the literature is consulted to establish the state of the art. Moreover the problem statement is specified and the different stakeholders are analysed. A comprehensive plan is set to fix the deadlines of the other phases.
The second phase is the requirements analysis. This is a fundamental step of the development processes as the requirements will define the functionality of the project. A cost-benefit and risk assessment analysis will cover the requirements for every part of the project. The ethical evaluation will focus on the requirements for the application and the compartment system prototype, while the survey will focus on the requirements for the navigation simulation.
The third phase of the development processes is the specification analysis. During this phase the requirements are formalized using UML diagrams. The design of the user interface of the app is defined and the hypothetical maps that the delivery robots must navigate are designed in NetLogo.
The fourth phase is the implementation. The application code is written in Swift, creating an app compatible with devices supporting iOS, the hardware for the compartment system is assembled and the NetLogo program for the delivery simulation is written.
During the fifth and final phase of the development process the system is tested and a demo is finally created.
Planning
From the approach a plan for the development process was created. The plan is illustrated in the following figure using a Gantt table.
Task Division
During each development process phase the different task composing it are subdivided between the group members.
| Research | Requirements | Specification | Implementation | Testing | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Task | Group member | Task | Group member | Task | Group member | Task | Group member | Task | Group member | ||||
| Determining subject | All | Risk Assessment | ... | App Users | ... | App User | ... | Test system | ... | ||||
| Set up Wiki | Fabiènne | Cost-Benefit Analysis | ... | App enterprise | ... | App enterprise | ... | Make demo video | ... | ||||
| Approach | Dajt, Danielle | Ethical perspective | ... | Robot compartment system | ... | Robot compartment system | ... | Update Wiki | ... | ||||
| Planning | Fabiènne, Dajt | Make survey | ... | Navigation | ... | Navigation system | ... | ||||||
| Literature search | All | Analyse data survey | ... | Update Wiki | ... | Update Wiki | ... | ||||||
| Introduction | Lucia, Mijntje, Fabiènne, Dajt | Update Wiki | ... | ||||||||||
| State of the Art | Lucia, Mijntje, Fabiènne | ||||||||||||
| Stakeholder analysis | Danielle | ||||||||||||
| Update Wiki | Danielle, Fabiènne, Dajt | ||||||||||||
Milestones
By the end of week 2 the problem statement, introduction, stakeholder analysis and state of the art must be completed. This will conclude the research phase.
By the end of week 3 the survey on people’s attitudes towards our proposal and delivery robots in general, the risk assessment, and different analysis must be completed. This will conclude the requirements phase.
By the end of week 4 the analysis/conclusions of the survey and a semi-formal model of the system must be completed. This will conclude the specification phase.
By the end of week 6 the first implementation of the apps, lock system and navigation system must be completed. This will conclude the implementation phase.
By the end of week 7 the adjusted version of the apps (after testing/interviewing) and a demo video must be completed. This will conclude the testing phase.
Deliverables
The final product will be a system to distribute/deliver medicine to those in need (elderly in most cases), including:
- An application with the choice to log in as a user to order medicine and open the compartments of the delivery robot or as the pharmacist/hospital/doctor/distributor to set the passwords for the compartments and the targets the delivery robot must visit.
- A hardware system to secure and open the compartments, which can communicate with the application.
- A NetLogo program in which an agent, representing a delivery robot, finds the shortest path among multiple targets within an environment modelling the map of a city or an indoor environment, for example an ICU.
Logbook
Week 1
| Name | Total hours | Tasks |
|---|---|---|
| Danielle | 3.5 | Introduction lecture [1.5], Meeting [0.5], literature research (source 5-11) [1.5] |
| Lucia | 0.5 | Meeting [0.5], |
| Mijntje | 0.5 | Meeting [0.5], |
| Dajt | 3.5 | Introduction lecture [1.5], Meeting [0.5], literature research (source 14-18) [1.5] |
| Fabiènne | 2 | Meeting [0.5], literature research (source 1-4) [1], Wiki page [0.5] |
Week 2
| Name | Total hours | Tasks |
|---|---|---|
| Danielle | 4.3 | Meeting [1.3], images(Approach/Stakeholder) [1], Stakeholder analysis [1.5], update wiki [0.5] |
| Lucia | ||
| Mijntje | ||
| Dajt | 6.8 | Agenda [0.5], Meeting [1.3], approach [2], planning (tables) [2.5], problem statement [0.5], update wiki [1] |
| Fabiènne |
Week 3
| Name | Total hours | Tasks |
|---|---|---|
| Danielle | ... | ... |
| Lucia | ... | ... |
| Mijntje | ... | ... |
| Dajt | ... | ... |
| Fabiènne | ... | ... |
Week 4
| Name | Total hours | Tasks |
|---|---|---|
| Danielle | ... | ... |
| Lucia | ... | ... |
| Mijntje | ... | ... |
| Dajt | ... | ... |
| Fabiènne | ... | ... |
Week 5
| Name | Total hours | Tasks |
|---|---|---|
| Danielle | ... | ... |
| Lucia | ... | ... |
| Mijntje | ... | ... |
| Dajt | ... | ... |
| Fabiènne | ... | ... |
Week 6
| Name | Total hours | Tasks |
|---|---|---|
| Danielle | ... | ... |
| Lucia | ... | ... |
| Mijntje | ... | ... |
| Dajt | ... | ... |
| Fabiènne | ... | ... |
Week 7
| Name | Total hours | Tasks |
|---|---|---|
| Danielle | ... | ... |
| Lucia | ... | ... |
| Mijntje | ... | ... |
| Dajt | ... | ... |
| Fabiènne | ... | ... |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Okyere, M. A., Forson, R., & Essel-Gaisey, F. (2020). Positive Externalities of an Epidemic: The Case of the Corona Virus (COVID-19) in China. Journal of Medical Virology, 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmv.25830
- ↑ Skorup, B., & Haaland, C. (2020). How drones can help fight the coronavirus. Ssrn Electronic Journal, (2020). https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3564671
- ↑ Peleato, F., Prabakar, M., & Kim, J.-H. (2013). Smart Global Positioning System for Autonomous Delivery Robots in Hospitals. 2013 29th Southern Biomedical Engineering Conference. doi: 10.1109/sbec.2013.79
- ↑ Summerfield, M. R., Seagull, F. J., Vaidya, N., & Xiao, Y. (2011). Use of pharmacy delivery robots in intensive care units. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 68(1), 77–83. doi: 10.2146/ajhp100012
- ↑ de Groot, S. (2019).