KARES: intelligent rehabilitation robotic system for the disabled and the elderly

KARES (KAIST Rehabilitation Engineering System) is a rehabilitation robotic system with 6 degrees of freedom robot arm mounted on the powered wheelchair, in order to assist the disabled and the elderly for independent livelihood. Human machine interaction is very important in this system. The direct control of the robot arm takes a high cognitive load on the user's part while physically disabled persons may have difficulties operating joysticks or push buttons for delicate movements. Therefore, a certain degree of autonomy of the robotic system is needed. To perceive the environment, color vision and force/torque sensors are mounted on the end-effector of the robotic arm of KARES. Four basic tasks are tested: picking up a cup from a table, picking up a pen from the floor, moving an object to the user's face, and operating a switch on a wall. These tasks are performed autonomously in the semi-structured environment.