Human Movement Imitation for Robot Therapy using the NAO Robot

One of the methods currently used in healthcare, with the use of social robots, is called robot therapy. This type of therapy is most commonly used for accompanying elders, and those with mental disorders. The main point of robot therapy is to provide nonhuman companionship, as those with mental disorders, especially anxiety, prefer non-judgmental company. However, the robots used mostly are currently in animal forms, which imitate the behavior of animals. This study aims to approach a more human-like behavior, but as robots cannot possess any judgement, patients are likely to feel more comfortable expressing themselves. Human movement is focused upon before proceeding to behavior imitation. In this study, only the upper limbs are detected and imitated using the concept of imitation learning. The user’s joints are detected by a 3D camera that sends the data to a program that computes the change in angle for each joint, which then causes the humanoid to execute similar movements. This research made use of the robot operating system (ROS) making the system flexible and easy to improve upon.