A portable light-weight climbing robot for personal assistance applications

Purpose – Human care and service demands will need innovative robotic solutions to make the day‐to‐day life of elderly and disabled people in home and workplace environments easier. The main objective of this work is to develop a new concept of climbing robot for this type of service applications.Design/methodology/approach – ASIBOT is a 5 DOF self‐containing manipulator that includes the entire control system on‐board. The main advantage of this robot is its light weight, about 11 kg with 1.3 m reach. The robot is totally autonomous and only needs a power supply to be operated.Findings – The robot is an arm able to move between different points (Docking stations (DS)) of the rooms and, if necessary, “jump” to (or from) the environment to the wheelchair. In this way the ASIBOT robot could become a home companion and assistance for numerous people.Originality/value – ASIBOT is a 5 DOF self‐containing light weight manipulator that includes the entire control system on‐board.

[1]  Carlos Balaguer,et al.  The MATS robotic system to assist disabled people in their home environments , 2003, Proceedings 2003 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2003) (Cat. No.03CH37453).

[2]  José Manuel Pastor,et al.  A climbing autonomous robot for inspection applications in 3D complex environments , 2000, Robotica.

[3]  Carlos Balaguer,et al.  Climbing Robots’ Mobility for Inspection and Maintenance of 3D Complex Environments , 2005, Auton. Robots.

[4]  Dong-Soo Kwon,et al.  Integration of a Rehabilitation Robotic System (KARES II) with Human-Friendly Man-Machine Interaction Units , 2004, Auton. Robots.

[5]  Kazuhiko Kawamura,et al.  Intelligent robotic systems in service of the disabled , 1995 .

[6]  Takanori Shibata,et al.  Analysis of factors that bring mental effects to elderly people in robot assisted activity , 2002, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[7]  Paul Sharkey,et al.  Integrating augmented reality with home systems , 1996 .

[8]  Kazuhiko Kawamura,et al.  Erratum to "Intelligent Robotic Systems in Service of the Disabled" , 1995 .

[9]  Michael Topping,et al.  An Overview of the Development of Handy 1, a Rehabilitation Robot to Assist the Severely Disabled , 2002, J. Intell. Robotic Syst..

[10]  Bruno Siciliano,et al.  Functional compliance in the control of a personal robot , 2001, Proceedings 2001 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. Expanding the Societal Role of Robotics in the the Next Millennium (Cat. No.01CH37180).

[11]  Hyung-Soon Park,et al.  Development of a Robotic Arm for Handicapped People: A Task-Oriented Design Approach , 2001, Auton. Robots.