How can social robot use cases in healthcare be pushed - with an interoperable programming interface

INTRODUCTION: Research into current robot middleware has revealed that most of them are either too complicated or outdated. These facts have motivated the development of a new middleware to meet the requirements of usability by non-experts. The proposed middleware is based on Android and is intended to be placed over existing robot SDKs and middleware. It runs on the android tablet of the Cruzr robot. Various toolings have been developed, such as a web component to control the robot via a webinterface, which facilitates its use. METHODS: The middleware was developed using Android Java and runs on the Cruzr tablet as an app. It features a WebSocket server that interfaces with the robot and allows control via Python or other WebSocket-compatible languages. The speech interface utilizes Google Cloud Voice text-to-speech and speech-to-text services. The interface was implemented in Python, allowing for easy integration with existing robotics development workflows, and a web interface was developed for direct control of the robot via the web. RESULTS: The new robot middleware was created and deployed on a Cruzr robot, relying on the WebSocket API and featuring a Python implementation. It supports various robot functions, such as text-to-speech, speech-to-text, navigation, displaying content and scanning bar codes. The system’s architecture allows for porting the interface to other robots and platforms, showcasing its adaptability. It has been demonstrated that the middleware can be run on a Pepper robot, although not all functions have been implemented yet. The middleware was utilized to implement healthcare use cases and received good feedback. CONCLUSION: Cloud and local speech services were discussed in regard to the middleware’s needs, to run without having to change any code on other robots. An outlook on how the programming interface can further be simplified by using natural text to code generators has been/is given. For other researchers using the aforementioned platforms (Cruzr, Pepper), the new middleware can be utilized for testing human-robot interaction. It can be used in a teaching setting, as well as be adapted to other robots using the same interface and philosophy regarding simple methods.