日 本 ロ ボ ッ ト学 会 誌VoL24No.J.pp.585-587.2006 585

解 説 Neurobotics for Women Recruitment and Retention

Yoky Matsuoka* *The Institute, Carnegie Mellon University

scientific understanding of the human body and using 1. Introduction it to rehabilitate arid assist people through robotic de-

Girls and women often try to stay as far away as pos- vices. Because of its societal ramifications. Neurobotics sible from being associated with the word •grobot•h for can both be used to recruit women who want a career a good reason. Socially, boys with sophisticated robots that mixes technology and humans and to retain women may become popular, while girls with robots may be la- who want a career that is worth having even if it means beled as geeks [1]. In college, women who are capable of that the time is spent away from their own children be- performing equally with men may purposely do worse cause they are also helping and changing other people's in math and engineering when a stereotype threat ex- lives. ists [2] . Even if women overcome these stereotype issues 2. Neurobotics and pursue robotics research, a male dominant work- place is awaiting to make the already difficult tasks of The field of Neurobotics focuses on the algorithms balancing career and family an even harder task. For and designs of a robot-human closed loop system to these reasons, there are very few women in the field of alter the neural control of movement as aaway to reha- robotics; and because of the lack of role models, it makes bilitate, assist, and enhance human motor control and it even more intimidating for women to enter the field. learning capabilities. The primary target population is This is a viscous cycle that needs to be broken in order individuals with strokes, spinal cord injuries, traumatic to recruit and retain women in the field of robotics. brain injuries, and other injuries that inhibit daily activ-

There is a general trend that women (and girls) are ities. While the cutting edge research focuses on funda- more encouraged to pursue a career if they know that ment al scientific questions arid developing engineering it may lead to the path of helping people in the fu- tools, the field of Neurobotics is intimately connected ture. Robots, unfortunately, have the image of being with immediate applications of current techniques to cold metallic objects that do not have much to do with immediately affect disabled people. human warmness. If there is a way to alter the image of Neurobotics requires a multidisciplinary approach. robotics so that it is linked closely with helping elderly, First, the sensorimotor control mechanisms in the cen- babies, or disabled people, there is a better chance of tral nervous system are modeled through psychophys- recruiting and retaining more women. Luckily, more ical experiments oIi human subjects and through me- robotic researchers are pursuing these new research ar- chanical and computer simulations. Second, using these eas in robotics. For example, robotic research is starting experimental/modeling results, assistive and rehabilita- to make impacts in rehabilitation and assistive robotics tive robotic devices are designed and constructed to in- for injured, paralyzed and aging people [3]•`[6]. timately interact and interface with the users. These de- This paper outlines the sub-field of robotics called vices include haptic, prosthetic, implantable, and wear- Neurobotics. Neurobotics is aims at developing a better able devices. Finally, the neural control alterations due to the robot-human closed loop control are inves-

原 稿 受 付2006年4月21日 tigated. Recent findings suggest that animals/humans キ ー ワ ー ド: Rehabilitation Robotics, Assistive Robotics, are capable of performing tasks that are normally im- Neurobotics, Recruitment, Retention, Women, Outreach *5000 Forties Avenue , Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA possible when they are provided with artificial neural

日本 ロ ボ ッ ト学 会誌24巻5号 23 2006年7月 586 Yoky Matsuoka feedback. In Neurobotics, neuromuscular parameters of human subjects are extracted, manipulated externally, and then fed back to the human through artificial force or electrical feedback. Experiments can then be per- formed to determine the effect of artificial feedback on human motor control and learning. The area of Neurobotics needs and attracts students and researchers with a variety of backgrounds. Example backgrounds are: mechanical, electrical, and biomedical engineering, physics, math, computer science, cognitive Fig. 1 A wearable robotic hand device was developed by a science, , art, and medicine. It is typical to group of undergraduate and graduate students. A collaborate with a variety of medical institutions includ- quadriplegic student used it to eat soft food on his own for the first time since his injury ing rehabilitation hospitals, sports medicine, orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, and more. is possible to change the perception of robots from cold 3. Outreach and Education for Recruitment metallic objects to technology that improves quality of The Women's Experiences in College Engineering life for disabled and elderly people. (WECE) Project, funded by the NSF and the Alfred 4. Societal Impact for Retention P. Sloan Foundation. revealed that pre-college exposure to engineering, especially by women who are active in Suppose we successfully convince high school girls to the field, encourages young girls to pursue the field of pursue robotics engineering. Maybe they even decide engineering [7]. This encouragement should not only to go to grad school, get a PhD. and get a job doing re- be done through giving guest lectures for elementary search in robotics. But how do we convincethem to stay and secondary schools, but through hands on experi- after having a family when they have family/children to ences. As one example, Society of Women Engineers take care of? The best way to retain women in the field

(SWE) sponsors a workshop called •gEngineering Your of robotics is to make sure that the work is rewarding Future (EYF)•h at Carnegie Mellon University to intro- enough, that women will choose to devote their precious duce engineering to over 100 inner-city girls in grades time to it. even though it means time away from their 8 to 12 every year [8]. The projects change every year kids and husbands. It has to be something that women to encourage participation in multiple years. As one of want to come back to after (potentially multiple) ma- the projects, students constructed a simple prosthetic ternity leaves, allows flexible working hours, and most robotic arm that is controlled by their own muscle ac- importantly, feels like it is changing the world and peo- tivities. ple in a way that nobody else can. To have the field of

Using Neurobotics, it is possible to help disabled peo- robotics be a place where women are retained, subfields ple while recruiting women into the field of robotics such as Neurobotics can be a great example because it at the same time. For example. to encourage interac- can provide immediate societal impact. Through Neu- tion between engineering and motor-impaired students, robotics, women engineers and scientists can continue to a team that consisted of several undergraduate and assist those who cannot communicate with others, move graduate students was formed to help a quadriplegic without assistance, or generally improve the quality of student who lived on campus. The disabled student life for those who need it the most. made a robotic •gwish list•h that lie thought would en- As the elderly population increases, the need for as- able him to be more independent. The team of students sistive and rehabilitative technology will only increase. worked with the disabled student to tackle these prob- It is thus a great time to recruit and retain many women lems. From this activity, a wearable robotic device was in the field of robotics and start changing stereotypes so constructed to allow the disabled student to grab soft that girls who pursue robotics are envied by everyone, food on his own and eat it (Fig. 1) [4]. in the same way as girls who become doctors are today. Through these outreach and educational programs, it

JRSJ Vol.24 No.5 24 July, 2006 Neurobotics for Women Recruitment and Retention 587

[8] http://swetietoc.pc.cc.crnu.edu/swe/eyf.php References

[1] J. Margolis and A. Fisher: Unlocking the Clubhouse. MIT Yoky Matsuoka Press, 2002. Professor Yoky Matsuoka is the Anna [2] A. Bell, S. Spencer, E. Iserman and C. Logel:•gStereotype Loomis McCandless Assistant Professor in Threat and Women's Performance in Engineering,•hJournal of the Robotics Institute, Mechanical Engi- Engineering Education, pp.307-312. 2003. neering Department, and Center for the [ 3] B.R. Brewer, R. Klatzky and Y. Matsuoka:•gVisual Feedback

Distortion in a Robotic Rehabilitation Environment,•hThe Pro- Neural Basis of Cognition at Carnegie Mel-

ceedings of IEEE, To Appear. 2006. lon University. She is also a Clinical Assis-

[4] L. Lucas, III. DiCicco and Y. Matsuoka:•gAn EMG-Controlled tant Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Hand Exoskeleton for Natural Pinching,•hJournal of Robotics Rehabilitation at the University of Pittsburgh. She received and Mechatronics, vol.16, no.5, pp.482-488, 2004. her Ph.D. (1998) and M.S. (1995) from Massachusetts In- [ 5] Y. Matsuoka, P. Afshar and M. Oh:•gOn the Design of Robotic stitute of Technology, and B.S. from UC Berkeley (1993), Hands for Brain Machine Interface,•hNeurosurgical Focus, To all in and Computer Science. Prior Appear, 2006. to joining CMU, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Brain [6] T. Shibata, T. Tashima and K. Tanic:•gEmergence of Emo- and Cognitive Sciences Department at MIT and in Mechan- tional Behavior through Physical Interaction between Human ical Engineering at Harvard University. Her work at CMU and Robot.•hIEEE International Conference on Robotics and earned a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Automation, pp.2868-2873, 1999. Engineers (PECASE) in 2004, Anna Loomis McCandless [7] I.F. Goodman, C.M. Cunningham, C. Lachapelle. M.

Thompson, K. Bittinger, R.T. Brennan and M. Delci: Final re- Chair in 2004, and IEEE Robotics and Automation Soci- ety Early Academic Career Award in 2005. port of the women's experiences in college engineering (WECE)

project, 2002.

日 本 ロ ボ ッ ト学 会 誌24巻5号 25 2006年7月