Applying software variability methods to design adaptive assistance robots
David Gollasch, Christin Engel, Meinhardt Branig, and Gerhard Weber. 2019. Applying software variability methods to design adaptive assistance robots. In Proceedings of the 12th ACM International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments (PETRA ’19). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 313–314. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3316782.3321549
Authors
David Gollasch
Chair of Human-Computer Interaction, TU Dresden Dresden, Germany
Christin Engel
Chair of Human-Computer Interaction, TU Dresden Dresden, Germany
Meinhardt Branig
Chair of Human-Computer Interaction, TU Dresden Dresden, Germany
Gerhard Weber
Chair of Human-Computer Interaction, TU Dresden Dresden, Germany
Summary
Abstract. We believe that assistance and service robots are a major technological trend that could lead to a spread similar to smartphones today. Thus, it could be normal to have such a robot at home to support people during their daily life. The main challenge with today’s developments in this segment is a lack of features and a lack of adaptivity. Most service robots are specialised systems (vacuum cleaners) or do not consider the user’s needs and preferences when fulfilling their tasks. Our goal is to cope with these challenges and propose a solution by applying principles of software variability engineering to create an adaptive and accessible robot that can be extended and re-configured to fit the user’s needs better. Therefore, we modified feature and variability modelling known from product lines and software ecosystems and developed an approach to configure the robot based on user requirements (needs and preferences).
Keywords. human-robot interaction, human-computer interaction, assistivetechnology, personal robot, accessibility, software variability, soft-ware ecosystems, adaptive technology, needs and preferences
