Researchers at MIT are developing a robotic wheelchair that will memorize the layout of a building, then take the user where he/she wants to go with voice commands. By saying something as simple as “take me to my room” the robotic wheelchair would navigate to that destination without the user having to control every maneuver in the trip. Assistant professor of aeronautics and astronautics Nicholas Roy says that the wheelchair will adapt to the user and the surroundings; that the robots will be personalized for different users.
The robochair learns about its environment by being pushed once around a building, with key parts of the building being noted. For example, while passing the cafeteria, the patient or caregiver would say something like “here is the cafeteria”, so the robot would be able to find the location later. This is similar to how a human would learn to navigate a new environment, through physical exposure to different areas.
Professor of computer science and engineering Seth Teller is another researcher working on the project—he’s also part of another team at MIT that is working on other gizmos with situational awareness; things like a location aware cellphone to an industrial forklift.
GPS is a fine technology for placing things outdoors, but inside buildings engineers need to use different approaches to locating things. Using tech like WiFi, cameras, and lasers, these researchers hope to further explore the possibility of situational awareness. Teller says, “I’m interested in having robots build and maintain a high-fidelity model of the world.”
Right now, the robotic wheelchair relies on a series of WiFi nodes around a facility to let the robot know where it is. The wheelchair is currently being used in preliminary real-world trials at the Boston Home in Dorchester. Future improvements to the chair will probably be an obstacle avoidance system, and perhaps even robotic arms to let patients manipulate their environment from the chair. Microsoft and Nokia are funding the research.
So it’s clear that as robots become smarter, our geriatric future looks brighter. We’ll have robots mowing our lawns, cleaning our houses, and making us food while we tell our robot wheelchair, “take me to the sex dungeon” where we’ll settle down for a night of romping with the robot harem.

[MIT news]