AsianScientist (Aug. 3, 2011) – With a projected elderly population of 5.69 million by 2015, Japan faces an urgent need for new approaches to assist care-giving personnel.
A new robot with high-precision tactile sensors and flexible motor control technology has taken Japan one step closer to providing high-quality care for its growing elderly population.
One of the most difficult and energy-consuming tasks for care facility personnel is lifting a patient from a futon at floor level into a wheelchair. Robots are well-suited to this task, which is carried out on average 40 times a day, but have not been deployed in care-giving facilities.
In 2009, the RIKEN-TRI Collaboration Center for Human-Interactive Robot Research (RTC), a joint project established in 2007 and located at the Nagoya Science Park in central Japan, unveiled a robot called RIBA (Robot for Interactive Body Assistance), which was designed to assist in this task.
It was the first robot capable of lifting a patient of up to 80 kg from a bed to a wheelchair and back, charting a new course in the development of care-giving robots, yet functional limitations prevented its immediate commercialization.
With RTC’s new robot, RIBA-II, some of these limitations were overcome through added power and functionality. New joints in the robot’s base and lower back enabled RIBA-II to crouch down and lift a patient off a futon at floor level, the most physically strenuous task for care-givers and one that RIBA could not do previously.
RIBA-II also has Smart Rubber sensors, the first capacitance-type tactile sensors made entirely of rubber. Printed in sheets and fitted onto the robot’s arms and chest, the newly-developed sensors enable high-precision tactile guidance and allow RIBA-II to quickly detect a person’s weight from touch alone, guaranteeing patient safety.
In the future, RTC researchers will work together with partner nursing care facilities to test RIBA-II and further tailor it to the needs of care-givers and their patients, while also finding new applications for RIBA-II in areas such as rehabilitation. The researchers aim to introduce care-giving robots like RIBA-II to the market, promising support for aging populations worldwide.
The YouTube video of RIBA-II in action can be found at: 介護支援ロボット「RIBA- II」 / Robot for advanced patient care support “RIBA- II” .
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Source: RIKEN.
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