Abstract: We envision ubiquitous autonomous mobile robots that coexist and interact
with humans while performing tasks. Such robots are still far from common,
as our environments offer great challenges to robust autonomous robot
perception, cognition, and action. In this talk, I present symbiotic robot
autonomy in which robots are robustly autonomous in their localization and
navigation, as well as handle they limitations by proactively asking for
help from humans, accessing the web for missing knowledge, and
coordinating with other robots. Such symbiotic autonomy has enabled our
CoBot robots to move in our multi-floor buildings performing a variety of
service tasks, including escorting visitors, and transporting packages
between locations. I will describe CoBot’s fully autonomous effective
mobile robot indoor localization and navigation algorithms, its
human-centered task planning, and its symbiotic interaction with the
humans, the web, and other robots, namely other CoBots and Baxter. I will
further present our ongoing research on knowledge learning from our
speech-based robot interaction with humans. The talk will be illustrated
with results and examples from many hours-long runs of the robots in our
buildings. The work is joint with Joydeep Biswas, Brian Coltin, Stephanie
Rosenthal, Mehdi Samadi, Tom Kollar, Vittorio Perera, Robin Soetens, and
Yichao Sun. Special thanks to Cetin Mericli and Daniele Nardi.
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