Designing a miniature wearable visual robot

We report on two methods we have developed to aid in the design of a wearable visual robot-a body mounted robot for which the main sensor is a camera. Specifically, we have first refined the analysis of sensor placement through the computation of the field of view and body motion using a 3D model of the human form. Second we have improved the design of the robot's morphology with the help of an optimization algorithm based on the Pareto front, within constraints set by the overall choice of robot kinematic chain and the need to specify obtainable actuators and sensors. The methods could be of use for the design and performance evaluation of rather different kinds of wearable robots and devices.