Tokai Rubber researchers develop care-giving robot

ERJ staff report (LMH)

Nagoya, Japan - Researchers at RIKEN and Tokai Rubber Industries (TRI) have developed a new care-giving robot, which uses rubber sensors to help it lift-up patients.

The robot uses high-precision tactile rubber sensors and flexible motor control technology to allow it to lift a patient up to 80kg in weight off floor-level bedding and into a wheelchair. This frees care facility personnel of one of their most difficult and energy-consuming tasks, RIKEN said in a 2 Aug statement.

In 2009, the RIKEN-TRI Collaboration Centre 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) designed to assist in this task.

The first robot capable of lifting a patient from a bed to a wheelchair and back, RIBA charted a new course in the development of care-giving robots, yet functional limitations prevented its direct commercialisation.

RTC's new robot, named RIBA-II, overcomes these limitations with added power and functionality. New joints in the robot's base and lower back enable 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 was not able to do.

RIBA-II accomplishes this task using newly-developed Smart Rubber sensors, the first capacitance-type tactile sensors made entirely of rubber, according to RIKEN's statement. Printed in sheets and fitted onto the robot's arms and chest, the 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 developing new applications in areas such as rehabilitation. TRI said it aims to bring care-giving robots like RIBA-II to the market in the near future.

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Press release from RIKEN