The broader research objective of this line of research is to test the hypothesis that real-time stereo video analysis and augmented reality can increase safety and task efficiency in robot-assisted surgery. This master’s thesis aims to solve the first step needed to achieve this goal: the creation of a robust system that delivers the envisioned feedback to a surgeon while he or she controls a surgical robot that is identical to those used on human patients. Several approaches for applying augmented reality to da Vinci Surgical Systems have been proposed, but none of them entirely rely on a clinical robot; specifically, they require additional sensors, depend on access to the da Vinci API, are designed for a very specific task, or were tested on systems that are starkly different from those in clinical use. There has also been prior work that presents the real-world camera view and the computer graphics on separate screens, or not in real time. In other scenarios, the digital information is overlaid manually by the surgeons themselves or by computer scientists, rather than being generated automatically in response to the surgeon’s actions. We attempted to overcome the aforementioned constraints by acquiring input signals from the da Vinci stereo endoscope and providing augmented reality to the console in real time (less than 150 ms delay, including the 62 ms of inherent latency of the da Vinci). The potential benefits of the resulting system are broad because it was built to be general, rather than customized for any specific task. The entire platform is compatible with any generation of the da Vinci System and does not require a dVRK (da Vinci Research Kit) or access to the API. Thus, it can be applied to existing da Vinci Systems in operating rooms around the world.

This paper discusses a novel framework designed to increase human-robot interaction through robotic imitation of the user's gestures. The set up consists of a humanoid robotic agent that socializes with and play games with the user. For the experimental group, the robot also imitates one of the user's novel gestures during a play session. We hypothesize that the robot's use of imitation will increase the user's openness towards engaging with the robot. Preliminary results from a pilot study of 12 subjects are promising in that post-imitation, experimental subjects displayed a more positive emotional state, had higher instances of mood contagion towards the robot, and interpreted the robot to have a higher level of autonomy than their control group counterparts. These results point to an increased user interest in engagement fueled by personalized imitation during interaction.

A hug is one of the most basic ways humans can express affection. As hugs are so common, a natural progression of robot development is to have robots one day hug humans as seamlessly as these intimate human-human interactions occur. This project’s purpose is to evaluate human responses to different robot hugging techniques and behaviors. Specifically, we aim to test the hypothesis that a warm, soft, touch-sensitive PR2 humanoid robot can provide humans with satisfying hugs by matching both their hugging pressure and their hugging duration. Thirty participants experienced and evaluated twelve hugs with the robot, divided into three randomly ordered trials that focused on physical robot characteristics and nine randomly ordered trials with varied hug pressure and timing. We found that people prefer soft, warm hugs over hard, cold hugs. Furthermore, users prefer hugs that physically squeeze them and release immediately when they are ready for the hug to end. When comparing responses to a survey taken at the start and end of the hugging session, we found that after the experiment users felt significantly more understood by the robot, trusted it more, and thought it was easier to use than they initially anticipated.

For the development of high-tech systems such as lithographic positioning systems, throughput and accuracy are the main requirements. Nowadays, the trend to reach demanded accuracy and throughput levels is designing lightweight and consequently more flexible systems. To control these systems with a more effective and less conservative way, control design should go beyond the traditional rigid control and cope with the flexibilities that limit achievable bandwidth and performance. Therefore, conventional loop shaping methods are not sufficient to reach the performance criterions. Since obtaining an accurate parametric model is very complex and time-consuming for these high-tech systems, using well-developed model-based controller synthesis methods is also not a superior option. To achieve desired performance criterions, one solution can be implemented is reducing the gap between model-based and data-based control synthesis methods. In previous research, a method was developed to define the dynamic behavior of the system without a need for a parametric model. By this method transfer function data (TFD), which provides the information on the whole s-plane can be obtained from frequency response data (FRD) of the system. This innovation was a very important step to use data-based techniques for model-based controller synthesis methods. In this thesis firstly the standard technique to obtain TFD defined in [2] is extended. This standard technique to obtain TFD is not compatible with systems with pure integrators. To extend the methodology also for those systems, two techniques, which are altering the contour and filtering the system, are proposed. Then, the accuracy of TFD is investigated in detail. It is shown that the accuracy of TFD depends on the quality of FRD obtained and the computation techniques used to calculate TFD. Then, a technique which enables to determine the closed-loop poles of a MIMO system using TFD is discussed. The validity of the technique is proven with the help of complex function theory and calculus. Also, the factors that prevent determination of the closed-loop poles are discussed. In addition, it is observed that the accuracy of the closed-loop determination method depends on the quality of obtained TFD and the computation techniques. The proposed theory to obtain TFD and determination of closed-loop poles is validated with experiments conducted to a prototype lightweight system. Also, using experimental frequency response data of NXT-A7 test rig, the success of the proposed methodology is validated also for complex systems. Through these experimental results, it can be concluded that this new technique could be very advantageous in terms of ease of use and accuracy to determine the closed-loop poles of a MIMO lightly damped system.