Glossary

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AI Suitcase(also: AI-suitcase, Accessibility AI Suitcase)

A suitcase-shaped autonomous navigation robot for blind and low-vision travellers, developed as an open research platform by IBM Research, Carnegie Mellon University, Miraikan (the Japanese National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation), and project partners. The user holds…

Assistive Drone(also: Assistive UAV, Assistive Quadcopter)

A small unmanned aerial vehicle configured to assist a person with a disability — most often a blind or low-vision user — with tasks such as locating objects, navigating unfamiliar environments, scanning distant signage, and previewing walking-path conditions. Compared to…

Big Five Personality Traits(also: Big Five, Five-Factor Model, OCEAN Model)

A widely used psychological model that describes human personality along five trait dimensions: Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. Originally developed in personality psychology, it has been adopted in human-robot interaction…

Bite Acquisition

In robot-assisted feeding, the stage in which a robot uses a utensil to pick up a piece of food from a plate or bowl. Bite acquisition is a core technical challenge in assistive feeding robotics because foods vary enormously in compliance, friction, and geometry (e.g., spearing…

Bite Transfer

In robot-assisted feeding, the stage of the feeding cycle in which a robot arm moves food already on a utensil from a pickup location into the user's mouth. Bite transfer is distinct from bite acquisition (picking food up from a plate) and is the most physically intimate and…

CaBot(also: Carry-on Robot, Carnegie Mellon Suitcase Robot)

A research project begun in 2017 at Carnegie Mellon University that developed a suitcase-shaped autonomous navigation robot to guide blind and low-vision travellers through indoor public spaces. CaBot pioneered the "grip-the-handle-and-walk" interaction pattern, combining LiDAR,…

Cognitively Assistive Robot(also: CAR)

A category of socially assistive robot designed specifically to support people with cognitive impairments — most commonly mild cognitive impairment (MCI), dementia, traumatic brain injury, or learning disabilities — in everyday cognitive tasks such as remembering appointments,…

Delegation (Human-Robot Interaction)(also: Delegation, Task delegation to robot)

In human-robot interaction, the explicit transfer of a task or decision from a human to a robot. Delegation is a form of shared control in which authority for a specific subtask — for example, asking bystanders to step aside, announcing an obstacle, or choosing a path around a…

Freezing Robot Problem(also: Freezing robot, Robot freezing)

A classic failure mode of autonomous robots operating among people, first characterised by Trautman and Krause (2010), in which a robot stalls indefinitely because every candidate path is blocked by predicted human motion. The problem arises because overly conservative motion…

Humanoid Robot(also: Humanoid)

A robot whose physical form approximates a human body, typically with a head, torso, two arms, and (in bipedal designs) two legs. Humanoid robots are studied in accessibility research as embodied demonstrators that can present gestures, postures, and movement sequences in ways…

Map-less Navigation(also: Mapless navigation, Infrastructure-free navigation)

A class of robotic and assistive navigation techniques that do not require a pre-built environmental map or installed infrastructure such as Bluetooth Low Energy beacons, ultra-wideband anchors, or visual fiducials. Map-less systems instead rely on on-board sensors (LiDAR, RGB-D…

Omakase(also: Omakase mode, I leave it to you)

A Japanese word — literally 'I leave it to you' — adopted in human-robot interaction and assistive-AI research to describe a mode of user involvement in which the person defers all decisions to the system. In autonomous navigation robots for blind travellers, omakase denotes the…

Robot-Assisted Feeding(also: Assistive Feeding Robot, Robotic Feeding System, RAF)

A robotic system designed to help people with upper-limb motor impairments eat independently by automating the process of acquiring food from a plate and transferring it to the user's mouth. Robot-assisted feeding systems range from simple table-mounted devices with spoons (like…

Robotic Arm(also: Robot Arm, Assistive Robotic Arm, Manipulator Arm)

A programmable mechanical device with jointed segments that can grasp, move, and manipulate objects, controlled through various input methods. In assistive technology contexts, robotic arms are used to extend the physical capabilities of people with motor impairments, enabling…

Robotic Guide Dog(also: Robot Guide Dog, Quadruped Guide Robot)

A mobile robot — typically a quadruped platform — designed to provide navigation and obstacle-avoidance support for blind and low-vision users, filling a role analogous to that of a trained guide dog. Research prototypes have explored handler interaction, leash-based coupling,…

Simultaneous Localization and Mapping(also: SLAM)

A foundational robotics technique in which a robot constructs a map of an unknown environment while simultaneously estimating its own pose within that map. SLAM combines sensor input (typically LiDAR, depth cameras, or monocular vision) with probabilistic state estimation…

Social Navigation(also: Socially-aware navigation, Socially compliant robot navigation)

In robotics, the problem of moving through an environment that contains people, in a way that respects social norms, comfort, and safety. Social navigation goes beyond obstacle avoidance: it requires predicting pedestrian intentions, respecting personal space, interpreting…

Social Robot Navigation(also: Socially-aware robot navigation, Social navigation)

A subfield of robotics concerned with how a mobile robot should move through environments shared with humans — choosing paths, speeds, and timings that respect social norms as well as physical obstacle avoidance. Classic robot-navigation algorithms optimise for shortest-path…

Suitcase Robot(also: Suitcase-shaped robot, Robotic suitcase)

A class of autonomous navigation robots housed inside a rolling suitcase or carry-on-shaped enclosure, designed so that a blind or low-vision user can grip the handle and be guided to a destination while appearing to any onlooker to simply be walking with a piece of luggage. The…

Vocal Joystick(also: VJ, Voice Joystick)

A voice-based human-computer interface that uses continuous non-verbal vocal sounds (rather than spoken words) to provide proportional, real-time control of devices, cursors, or robotic systems. The Vocal Joystick engine extracts pitch, loudness, and vowel quality from the…

White Glove Service

A hospitality concept denoting personalized, detail-oriented service characterized by five qualities: anticipatory assistance (acting before being asked), discretion and privacy, attention to detail, personalization, and seamless problem resolution. In accessibility and…

21 results.