Spidey Sense

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Problem statement

On January the 27th, a building in The Hague exploded due to gas leak. It took the aid workers eight hours to save all residents. Sharwin, who was one of the residents, got stuck underneath his bed. Fireman Arie van Doorijweert mentioned that in the beginning they could only communicate with Sharwin by shouting (1). The time it takes to localize the victims and to remove the rubble is of great importance for the health of the victims. For aid workers it is necessary to know the specific situation of the victims, so that a personal approach can be made for the rescue. However, often there is no communication in disaster areas between aid workers and victims. This makes it harder for aid workers to estimate the critical situation, because they do not posses enough information to act upon. Victims can be helped quicker and more precise if aid workers would have access to the information of the victims themselves.

Persona's and Scenario

Sarah Janssen

Sarah Janssen

Name Sarah Janssen
Age 38
Work chief fire officer
Family married and two children, Jimmy (5) and Lisa (7)

Sarah is a devoted wife and mother, and works forty hours per week at the fire department. Besides combating fires and helping evacuees to safety, her job is to oversee the delivery of emergency services to accident scenes and burn sites. She is continuously working on improving the emergency services delivery for a quicker response time and rescue.

Frustrations

• Estimation of the number of victims is not accurate
• Evaluation of the victims’ personal situation in a disaster area is based on limited information
• Communicating with victims during the rescue is difficult

Goal
A way of communicating with the victims in a post-disaster area to gain information about their health and position for a more efficient and safe rescue.

Steve Clinton

Steve Clinton

Name Steve Clinton
Age 53
Work real estate investor
Town Tampa, Florida, USA

Steve lives together with his wife Daisy and his 7-year-old son William. His family evacuated to their family in South Carolina when the Hurricane Irma arrived in 2017. Steve stayed home, which got destroyed, and he got stuck under the rubble. Luckily, professional aid workers saved Steve after 10 hours and Steve survived the natural disaster. While looking back at the event, there are some things that he would have done differently if he could.

Frustrations

• The feeling of helplessness, because he could not contribute to his rescue
• The feeling of anxiousness, because he did not know when he would be found and how long the rescue would take
• Fear that the event might repeat itself

Scenario

An earthquake of Richter magnitude 5 has caused the collapsing of a building. It is estimated that at the time of the collision, six people were inside. Sarah coordinates the rescue teams and rapidly has to decide how to rescue these people. With the help of Spidey Sense, she is able to virtually reach the victims and communicate on their personal situations. She can calm the victim by telling them help is on their way and analyse their situation based on the information provided. This way, Sarah knows the health conditions of the victims and how to remove the rubble, and can therefore bring everyone in safety more efficiently.

Users and User Needs

Primary users

Aid Workers

They search for victims and provide medical help on site. They actually use the robot in the field.

Needs

• Accurate estimated number of victims
• Localize victims more quickly
• Safety while trying to search for survivors/victims
• More data about the situation in critical conditions
• Personal/medical information of the victims
• Easy and fluent communication with victims during the rescue

Victims

Victims of a post-disaster area. They interact with the rescue robot.

Needs

• Less mental issues after the disaster
• Receive medical aid as fast as possible
• Safety
• Communication with a professional aid worker
• Recognize help
• Reassurance of help

Secondary users

Volunteers

Family members, friends, neighbours and others who help with the search.

Needs

• Safety while trying to search for survivors/victims.

Non-profit organisations

Non-profit organisations, e.g. the Red Cross, can give workshops/education about the use of the robot.

Needs

• Safety
• More volunteers

Tertiary users

Government

The government finances the search and rescue.

Needs

• Lower (medical) costs
• Less casualties

Hospitals

Hospitals where the victims are hospitalized. They need to buy the device once but then they will take advantage for longer. They are able to use the device for a long period.

Needs

• Less mental issues after the disaster
• Less casualties
• Quicker discharge of patients

Production companies

It's able for the companies to get more brand awareness, when they will produce (a part of) the device. Other less known products of them, that are maybe very good in combination with the device, could get more publicity, which is also a positive impact.

Needs

• More brand awareness

Functional requirements

1. Safety

   This is one of the most prior user need for which a solution must be found. By implementing the robot the aid-workers and volunteers have way more information before trying to reach a certain spot. They can evaluate the situation and act in a more efficient and safer way.

2. Communication
   • The safety requirement however will be even better when some sort of communication between victim and aid-worker is present. Aid workers can than anticipate on the information received from the victims. Victims sometimes have critical information about the environment or their own situation, which might make the situation more safe for both victims and aid-workers or volunteers. The communication will also allow the aid-workers to get to know more about the mental and medical state of the victim. This way medical help can be provided more specifically when needed.
   • Another important factor is the mental state of the victims. For clear communication not only a device is needed, but also how each party acts individually. For example, when the victim is highly anxious, it is nearly impossible for aid workers to gain information. Furthermore, the victim might do things without thinking them through, like trying to escape themselves and worsening the situation by getting more stuck or wounding themselves. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that the victim stays calm during the rescue process.
3. Efficiency / good distribution of aid workers and volunteers

   When more specific information is recieved, resources can be divided better so less volunteers and aid-workers will be needed. This is beneficial for the non-profit organizations.

Smart requirements

1. Specific:

   Measurable:

   Achievable:

   Relevant:

   Timed:

2. Specific:

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3. Specific:

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Non-functional requirements

Apart from functional requirements, the device also has some non-functional requirements that need to be taken into account when creating the final design.

1. The robot should comfort the user

   This is one of the most important non-functional requirement. The device should reassure the victims. Therefore it needs to have a friendly-looking appearance. According to Sophie Kruisdijk, the possibility of having PTSD after a disaster depends on the kind of injuries, the duration of the rescue and impact of the event. Calm patients are easier to treat, which results in quicker discharge of patients. Furthermore when people cause more damage to themselves by trying to escape, it might result in more difficult medical operations. This will likely result in a longer period of recovery.

2. The robot should be ... (dimensions)

   To achieve the functional requirement of clear communication, the robot needs to get into small places. This is why the device should be relatively tiny and have these dimensions.

3. The robot should be user-friendly

   Apart from its appearance, the device should also should comfort the victim whilst communicating, which needs to happen smootly. Therefore the device should be user-friendly.

4. The device should be ready for use.

   Then, the aid workers and volunteers can act quicker. It is also a reassurance for the victims when they know the rescue mission goes quicker.

All these factors together can be used to determine some requirements for the solution. Not all requirements are set by the user needs though. Specifics like being able to move through different and unknown environments are not specifically important for one user, but will be important for the final product. Furthermore some of these other requirements might be sub-requirements needed to reach other requirements.

Smart requirements

1. Specific: The target group of this objective is very specific, namely the victims.

   Measurable: Through communication the aid worker can check if the victim calms down.

   Achievable: this requirement can be achieved by multiple applications, like communication and its appearance.

   Relevant: There is a high relevance for this requirement, because reassurance of the victim is the main focus of this project.

   Timed: There is no exact deadline for this requirement. It should, however, be the case that when the device is made all of the requirements should be met.

2. Specific:

   Measurable:

   Achievable:

   Relevant:

   Timed:

3. Specific:

   Measurable:

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4. Specific:

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Design

Way of moving

When in a post-disaster scenario, it is of utmost importance to get a calming response from humans interacting with robots. This paragraph looks at whether the way a robot moves, the postures it displays, and its orientation can make a significant difference in how humans respond to the robot.

In most cases it is clear the direction from which the robot approaches the human is important. How it moves is often not mentioned though. There are several studies done about the direction, but most of these have been done with a single robot. This makes the question a lot harder. Furthermore the question is quite likely influenced by the victims personality, as is the case with approach distances (28).

One important thing to consider is the speed at which the robot approaches the victim. In an article about non-facial and non-verbal affective expressions for appearance-constrained robots (26) the following test is done. A robot is used in a dark, high-fidelity, confined-space simulated disaster site in two different modes. There is a standard and an emotive mode. In the emotive mode the robot exaggerates his movement. As the robots approached the participant they would exhibit cautious and interested behaviors through a creeping movement, and would slowly raise similar to a dog or squirrel investigating something unknown. When really close (in the so called intimate zone) the robots movements are very limited and controlled so the participant isn’t frightened. Furthermore, after initial contact with the participant, the robot would slowly back away from the participant showing concern and attentiveness. The study showed statistically significant results which indicated that participants felt the robots were more calming, friendly, and attentive in the emotive mode. This improved the social human-robot interaction.

Figure 1

After looking at the best way to approach humans, the actual technical difficulties of reaching these solutions should be looked at. What different types of walking mechanisms are there, and which one suits the found solution best. Up until this point it was taken for granted a spider robot would be chosen, but is this the best possible idea? In a paper about the design of a spider robot it is mentioned that six-legged robots present opportunities by having a small size and practical mobility. The number of legs provide more controlled balance when comparing them to the majority of multi-legged robots. In the rescue application they could be very beneficial. Furthermore multi-legged robots are more versatile than wheeled robots, and can traverse many different terrains. The problem is the complexity of the robot, as well as power consumption. For this problem however, the versatility and ability to move through many different terrains is of more importance than the complexity and power consumption.

Figure 2

One of the ways to make the spider robot walk is by looking at an actual spider and its joints. At each joint a servo is placed so the root resembles a spider as much as possible. The design is shown in Figure 1. This will make the robot able to move in every possible direction. This design has a few problems though. The first problem is the difficulty. Since three servos are used per leg, the system has a lot of degrees of freedom. Even standing still is a difficult thing to set. Another problem is the amount of weight the robot can carry. Since the parts are connected via servo’s the weight load is determined by either the strength of the material or the maximum moment about the servo axis. There should be at least two servo’s, something to control the servos, a power supply and an interface next to the servo acting as a moment on the servo’s of the legs. This either requires very low weight parts or very strong servo’s. Another option to reduce the moment is shortening the rod connecting servo b and c. This however will make the robot way less versatile, since smaller steps can be taken.

Another way of making the robot move is making use of Klann’s mechanism. This is a planar leg mechanism that uses a single rotary motion. There is one central crank that can be rotated using a rotary actuator such as an electric motor. All other links and pin joints are unactuated and move because of the motion imparted by the crank. The position and orientation of each of these links is uniquely defined by specifying the crank angle. Therefore the mechanism has only one degree of freedom. The mechanism can be seen in Figure 2.

Another way to make the robot move, similar to Klann’s mechanism is the so called Jansen's linkage, developed by a Dutch kinetic sculptor called The Jansen. This mechanism makes for a simple simulation of an organic walking motion using only one rotary input.Again, the position and orientation of each of these links is uniquely defined by specifying the crank angle. Therefore this mechanism also only has one degree of freedom. The mechanism can be seen in Figure 3.

Figure 3

When comparing these three options a lot of things have to be taken into account. How smooth is the movement? What load can it hold? How hard is it to build? What is the construction expense? Can it run through rough and difficult environments? How hard is it to control? How much maintenance does it need?

To come to a conclusion the robot should move in a specific way. First of all the robot should not move too fast. The robot should look cautious at first, starting low at the ground and taking careful steps. After a while it should raise. In the intimate zone the robots movement should be very limited and controlled. The mechanism used to walk will be the Jansen’s linkage. This linkage has most of the benefits of Klann’s mechanism, but also makes for a more smooth and especially better looking movement. The leg looks more stable and sturdy than the Klann mechanism. CHOICE OF LINKAGE WILL BE ELABORATED UPON MORE

Communication

Audio

On the robot this will consist of a microphone and a speaker which are both wirelessly connected to a unit at another place where the aid worker is. So, the audio system will be almost like a phone connection between the victim and the aid worker. To save power, these are remotely turned on and off by the aid worker. How this wireless system works exactly, is unknown at the moment, because this is currently beyond our capabilities.

The victim will talk with an aid worker and not with the robot itself because programming a robot to include speech recognition and speech is extremely hard. Also, with the current state of the art, robot voices are pretty monotone. They don’t convey a lot of emotion or empathy, which is desirable in cases where the spider will be working. Of course, we could work on making a non-robotic sounding voice for the robot, but this is not the goal of this project. A human however, can convey empathy even with only their voice. This is confirmed by the fact that for a really long time, and still, psychoanalytic sessions take place over the phone for some people due to personal circumstances (35). According to Leffert (36), he had nine analyses in which he found that telephone sessions were indistinguishable from in‐person sessions, but he did not support his findings with detailed process. (Psycho)therapists must have a deep understanding of empathy to be able to talk with their patients. If telephone sessions can be as effective as in-person sessions, that means that therapists (and other people), can also convey a certain level of emotion and empathy over the phone, which is needed to calm down victims.

Colour of light

When the robot moves towards the patient in the dark environment under the rubble, this can be quite stressful for the patient. The robot would most likely not be completely silent when moving. To make the patient ready for what approaches him/her the robot could emit a light, making its form visible. As shown by multiple researches, the colour green and blue are mostly associated with the emotions peaceful and calming. If the the robot would emit a light in one of these colours this could already help the patient to calm down.

Approach of Person

The psychological study of how people establish mutual distances in communication is called proxemics. However, this study might not be applicable to robot-human communication. When a robot approaches a human, several considerations should be encountered in the way of approaching. (1) Personal Space: a social convention that defines a region of space around individuals as personal, (2) Direction of Encounter: the preferred direction from which a person would like to be addressed, (3) Feasibility of interaction: the region of space where interaction is feasible

In the thesis ‘Approaching Independent Living with Robots’ by Elena Torta, these three positions are tested and evaluated for a sitting and standing positions of the test subjects. The results concluded a best mutual distance between 140-200 cm. Also, the central direction of encounter was preferred most. The experiments were conducted with the Nao robot and only encounter sitting and standing positions. However, in our scenario it is also possible that the victims are lying down and have less freedom of movement. Also, the appearance of the robot is different. Therefore, a new test should be conducted to determine the best approach with our designed robot.

Approach, milestones and deliverables

Approach

To tackle this project, we started with extensive research on the state of the art. This is done by examining the current literature on the subject. These examined papers outline the current state of the problem, solutions to these problems, and their flaws.

After obtaining a better view on the problem at hand, the USE (user, society and enterprise) aspects are analyzed, to determine why this problem is relevant. These three aspects should always be kept in mind during each stage of the project. These aspects may sometimes ask for different solutions to the same problem, so they must be analyzed to determine which aspect should be taken into account more, and compromises must be made. Also different subproblems may ask for different USE aspects, but two solutions from two subproblems may not always be able to be combined, meaning that choices must be made.

After having analyzed the USE aspects, a scenario will be made where the robot shows of its capabilities, and multiple persona’s will also be made who come into contact with the robot. Research has also been done about the interaction between rescue robots and the human victims. These papers will be used and important factors for the product to have will be determined.

Then, we will start the production of our own spider robot. As with each project with a tangible deliverable, the robot starts off as a sketch. Multiple designs will be made, and the best one will be chosen. This will most likely be done by making simplified prototypes. Another option is creating only parts of the robot like the legs. After this is done the necessary components will be analyzed and subsequently tested. After we know that the different components work, they will be assembled into our final product. After obtaining a finished product it will be tested and evaluated. If improvement is needed, the product will be improved. This does mean that planning of the different tasks is crucial. The sub-components should be finished on time so they can be tested and assembled into one product. Therefore the different parts will be created as early as possible. This can clearly be seen in the planning.

During the whole process, a report will be written in which the process is outlined in a more detailed manner, and which also follows our progress. This report will also more finely describe the problem and the solutions. Because this is done alongside the creation of the actual prototype, planning is important again. Some people will be working on the product and some on the report. This also means clear communication is of utmost importance. Alongside each progress meeting, the group will come together once or twice a week to discuss what has already been done and what should still be worked on. This way it will become clear if the goals will be reached in time and the project is on track.

After all this is done a presentation will be prepared and presented, the wiki will be done, and all deliverables will be handed in.

Milestones

• Decide on subject (06/02/19)
• Formulate problem statement (11/02/19)
• Finish literature study
• Finish sketches of product
• Finish assembly of product
• Present product
• Finalize the wiki

Deliverables

• Wiki (report)
• Final presentation
• A prototype

Planning

PLANNING 1.0

Week 1	Literature study (Gialesi, Lotte, Mark, Romy)	Problem statement (Everybody)	Define users and user needs (Everybody)		Make planning (Noor)	Update Wiki (Romy)
Week 2		List of sensors and components (Gialesi, Noor)	Scenario/persona's (Lotte)	Make designs (Everybody)	Analyze USE aspects (Romy)
Week 3	Assembly of product (Gialesi, Lotte, Noor, Mark)	Test sensors (Gialesi)		Write report (Everybody)
Week 4
Week 5 (Carnaval)
Week 6		Test prototype (Noor)
Week 7	Improve prototype (Gialesi, Lotte, Noor, Mark)	Evaluate Prototype (Mark)		Prepare presentation (Lotte)
Week 8
Week 9	Presentation		Hand in deliverables

PLANNING 2.0

Week 1	Literature study (Gialesi, Lotte, Mark, Noor, Romy)		Problem statement (Everybody)		Define users and user needs (Everybody)			Make planning (Noor)		Update Wiki (Every-body)
Week 2			Communication (Gialesi, Noor)	Walking (Mark, Gialesi)	Approach Victim (Romy, Lotte)	Hue of light (Gialesi, Noor)	Looks (Mark, Noor, Romy)	Scenario & persona (Lotte)	Analyze USE aspects (Romy)
Week 3	Sketches of design (Everybody)					Find materials (Everybody)
Week 4	Assembly of product (Gialesi, Lotte, Mark)			Design choices (Noor, Romy)			Link user to design choices (Gialesi, Romy)
Week 5 (Carnaval)
Week 6				User testing (Everybody finds people)
Week 7	Analyze user tests (Gialesi, Noor)			Evaluation of user needs (Romy)			Prepare presentation (Lotte)
Week 8	Finalize report
Week 9	Presentation					Hand in deliverables

Who's doing what?

• Lotte Hollander: writing report + wiki, graphic design, prototyping
• Romy Lauwers: writing report + wiki, literature, photoshop
• Mark Wijnands: mechanics, control, 3D design
• Noor Schroen: literature, electronics
• Gialesi Notkamp: literature, electronics

References

[1] Newspaper article on gasexplosion in The Hague

State-of-the-Art

Spider Robot and Motion
[2] This paper looks at certain safe points where the spider robot can place its feet and where not in a plane.
[3] This paper looks at certain points where the spider can and cannot place its feet.
[4] This paper looks at a spider robot that climbs autonomously in pipelines. Could be useful for the small spaces.
[5] This paper is about the capabilities of the spider and studies the foot force and torque distribution of the spider in different conditions and compares the leg configurations in order to minimize the torque effort.
[6] This paper discusses foot designs and fabrication for use with a spider-inspired climbing robot.
[7] This paper is about a four-legged spider robot that learns how to move in its environment and reacts to physical changes.
[8] This article discusses a dragline-forming robot inspired by spiders
[9] This is the site of Robugtix. This company has a small spider robot, which can make smooth, life-like motions. The toy comes equipped with a 3D printed body, 26 motors, and microcontroller board pre-loaded with the Bigfoot™ Inverse Kinematics Engine.
[10] This paper focusses on a spider-imitated robot used for rescue

Relevant Rescue Robots
[11] This paper is about a rescue robot with debris opening function
[12] This paper is about MOIRA the Mobile Inspection robot for Rescue Activities.
[13] This paper is about a robot that can move the debris.
[14] This patent is about an all-terrain rescue and disaster-relief robot.
[15] This paper discusses an aerial search and rescue robot and its application to a specific earthquake.
[16] This paper is about modular, reconfigurable rescue robots.
[17] This article describes a so called WALK-MAN robot in post-earthquake scenario's.
[18] This patent is for an autonomous detection system and method of rescue robot in disaster area for complex environment
[19] This patent is for a full topography intelligence rescue robot with self-balancing objective table
[20] This patent is about an emergency relief goods transporting robot
[21] This article presents several different types of robots that can be easily deployed in rescue operations

Disaster Rescue
[22] This patent focusses on a method for priority evaluation for robots under disaster rescue environment
[23] This article is about a challenge that aims to accelerate the development of robots that can help humans, not only with nuclear emergencies but also with fires, floods, earthquakes, chemical spills, and other kinds of natural and man-made disasters.
[24] This patent is about video search and a rescue robot based on ZigBee wireless positioning and search and rescue method
[25] This article discusses a simulation project for disaster rescue

Rescue robot interaction
[26] This paper provides a short tutorial on how robots are currently used in urban search and rescue and discusses some robot-human interaction issues encountered over the past eight years.
[27] This paper talks about non-facial and non-verbal affective expressions for appearance-constrained robots.
[28] This paper presents findings from field trials observing human-robot interaction between certified rescue workers and two types of tactical mobile robots at a rescue training site.
[29] In this article the influence of personal traits of a person on the approach distances of robots is discussed.

Prototypes of a spider robot
[30] This paper is about a high tech spider prototype, mady by reseachers of the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA. The prototype will provide emergency responders with an image of the situation on the ground, along with any data about poisonous substances. Future plans envision its use as an exploratory tool in environments that are too hazardous for humans, or too difficult to get to. Furthermore, the prototype is very cheap to produce.
[31] This site has an instruction guide to print 3D parts of a spider robot with four legs. It is possible to place an arduino in the middle of the design.
[32] This patent is for a novel rescue robot that can efficiently walk in a complex post-disaster area through a design of a spider-like structure

Robots with interesting factors
[33] This robot is portable and foldable and quickly carried in a backpack to a site where inspection, exploration, search and rescue, and other tasks are required to performed.

Regulation
[34] Regulation and entrainment in human-robot interaction

Communication
[35] Clinical issues in analyses over the telephone and the internet [36] Analysis and Psychotherapy by Telephone: Twenty Years of Clinical Experience