For people with upper extremity disabilities — such as a stroke, multiple sclerosis or other conditions — assistive robotics can help restore their independence in performing everyday tasks like eating, grooming and grasping objects. But much like old dogs, these devices have a hard time learning new tricks.
“They need a lot of demos to learn new tasks, and people with disabilities aren’t able to provide these demos,” says Professor Aman Behal, an assistive robotics expert at UCF. “If they can, they might not be the best demos for the robot to learn from.”
Behal aims to address this challenge with his new research project, Mobile Robot Manipulators for Learning and Executing Instrumental Activities of Daily Living. The project is supported through a three-year, $600,000 grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research.
Read article from UCF Today.
By Marisa Ramiccio ’11 | February 18, 2025