ROS'ifying the Metaverse... Using VR to design and test robots.

Faced with COVID-19 restrictions that limited access to long-term care facilities for robot testing, the 3Spheres(TM) Robotics Project (3SRP) team pivoted to explore the potential of VR and the Metaverse as an alternative.

This meetup presentation, by Silas Alves, PhD and 3SRP Research Manager, will provide an overview of that two-year journey, including:

• Creating and ROS'ifying a virtual replica the 3SRP robot prototype "Aether(TM) 2.0"
• Constructing a virtual replica of a real long-term care facility
• Simulating realistic avatars and sims to test robot-human interaction

A demonstration of the virtual Aether robot in the virtual test site will be provided. Feedback from this event will inform us about "in-depth" topics Meetup members would like to see in the future.

Silas has been collaborating with researchers in Academia and Industry for 10+ years to mobilize knowledge and create novel robots to aid people. His main research interest is employing Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) to create machines that help people, in particular those with disabilities, to achieve their personal and professional goals. He is now working with the 3SRP team to create Virtual Reality environments to simulate HRI and robot navigation use cases.

An online meeting link to the presentation will be provided when you RSVP (free).