The RADIO project started by the EU government, is a robot assistant.

The project was used to monitor the health of an end user with the help of image data. The robot generated many images that indicated the end user’s health, mental capabilities, and behavior.

One of the important aspects of the RADIO project was monitoring where the process of end-user standing up and getting out of bed.

The algorithm is also been developed and used in the software. Several of the algorithms are running continuously on the robot processing platform where the resource usage is very high and the timing constraints are not met.

The tasks that can be computed intensively are accelerated with the help of programmable hardware. The RADIO robot platform was designed with two main processing platforms where the first platform is an Intel NUC, and the second platform is an Avnet PicoZed.

The first platform NUC, is responsible for controlling the base platform sensors and actuators. It is also directly connected to the TurtleBot2 base platform via USB.

The second platform, Avnet PicoZed, serves as an accelerator platform for reducing the computation load of the Intel NUC.

Asus Xtion Pro camera and a Hokuyo laser scanner were placed on the robot as additional devices where the two devices are either connected to the Intel NUC or the Avnet PicoZed.

The robot platform setup is where the image processing software is accelerated by Avnet Picozed. The parallelism was used for generating the accelerator for such an algorithm.

Four key Dimensions of RADIO: –

• User Acceptance: The solutions were created with RADIO to be readily acceptable. It involves the integration of technology seamlessly into daily lives.
• Integrated Data Collection and Processing: The main focus is on efficient data handling from collection to transmission to processing.
• User Interfaces: The intuitive interfaces ensure the designing of ease of use for both elderly individuals and caregivers.
• Architecture: The way for the integration of robots and smart home sensors is paved by the RADIO into the Internet of Things (IoT).

In the case of RADIO, an integrated smart home/assistant robot system is developed by combining the functionalities of a smart home and an assistant robot.

The project goal was to bridge the gap between technology and human needs.

Source:- Robotnik