Ai Dreams Forum
Robotics => Robotics News => Topic started by: Tyler on September 15, 2009, 01:00:14 am
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Hold Me In Your Automatic Arms
RIKEN issued a press
release about their joint research project with Tokai Rubber
Industries to create a care giving robot. The 180kg robot, called RIBA
(Robot for Interactive Body Assistance) is the first that can safely
lift a human weighing up to 61 kg from a bed into a wheel chair, or from
a wheel chair into a bed. To make sure the human is comfortable, the
robot is encased in soft urethane foam. The arms are also covered in 86
tactile sensors to give the robot information on the position of the
human body. Doctors and nurses can guide the robot by touching the
tactile sensors. In addition to the arm tactile sensors, the creepily cute
robot has four more tactile sensors on the hands, 2 microphones, and
2 vision sensors. Each arm has 7 degrees of freedom. The head has 3 DoF
and the waist 2 DoF. For more information, see the RIKEN-TRI
Collaboration Center for Human-Interactive Robot Research. Video
after the break, or you can
see several more videos of RIBAs movements on the RIBA Operation -
motions webpage. Ok, and I can't look at that photo without hearing
Laurie Anderson's "O Superman" in my
head; "So hold me, Mom, in your long arms, in your automatic arms, your
electronic arms."
http://robots.net/article/2916.html