Category: Robotics

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IoT Robotics Sensors Wearables

Tiny, ingestible robot can deliver medicine, patch wounds, remove objects

Daniela Rus and MIT, University of  Sheffield, and Tokyo Institute of Technology colleagues have developed an ingestible origami robot designed to patch wounds, deliver medicine or remove foreign objects from a person’s stomach.

The tiny robot, made of pig intestines, can unfold itself from a swallowed capsule. Steered by a doctor using external magnetic fields, the “microsurgeon” crawls across the stomach wall, and propels itself using a “stick-slip” motion.

Click to view MIT video

Wearable Tech + Digital Health NYC – June 7, 2016 @ the New York Academy of Sciences

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Machine Learning Robotics

Machine learning model enables robotic hand to learn autonomously

Vikash Kumar and University of Washington colleagues have developed a simulation model that allows robotic hands to learn from their own experiences, while performing dexterous manipulation.  Human direction is not required.

A recent study incorporated the model while a robotic hand attempted several tasks, including  rotating an elongated object. With each try, the hand became better able to spin the tube. Machine learning algorithms helped it model the basic physics involved, and plan the actions it should take to best complete the task.

Click to view University of Washington video

Wearable Tech + Digital Health NYC – June 7, 2016 @ the New York Academy of Sciences

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Categories
Robotics Seniors

Voice, image,language identifying robot responds to human dialogue

Hitachi’s EMIEW3 robot, designed to provide customer service in commercial environments, could be an ideal companion for the elderly or disabled. Its “remote brain” allows it to identify voices, images and language in its surroundings (which it can process with background street noise).  AI enables it to  respond to human dialogue and avoid collisions.  It is light enough to lift,can move at 6km per hour,  and stand on its own if knocked over. A cosmetic LED-light “beating heart” makes the robot seem more human.

Wearable Tech + Digital Health NYC – June 7, 2016 @ the New York Academy of Sciences

NeuroTech NYC – June 8, 2016 @ the New York Academy of Sciences

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Brain Robotics

“Socially assistive” robot helps children learn

Tega is a “socially assistive” robot  that senses the emotional state of a learner, and based on those cues, creates a personalized motivational strategy.  It was developed by Cynthia Breazeal at MIT to enable long-term educational interactions with children. It uses an AFFDEX Android device with emotion/facial expression recognition software by Rosalind Picard‘s Affectiva, to process movement, perception and thinking, and can respond to individual children’s behaviors.

In a learning trial, the system mirrored the emotional response of students ­­— getting excited when they were excited, and distracted when they lost focus — and tracked the impact of each of these cues on the student. Over time, it learned how the cues influenced a student’s engagement, happiness, and learning successes. As the sessions continued, it personalized its responses to optimize each student’s experience.

Click to view MIT video.

Rosalind Picard will be a keynote speaker at NeuroTech NYC on June 8th.

Wearable Tech + Digital Health NYC – June 7, 2016 @ the New York Academy of Sciences

NeuroTech NYC – June 8, 2016 @ the New York Academy of Sciences

 

 

Categories
Robotics

Stretchable robot “skin” can display health data

Robert Shepherd and Cornell colleagues have developed an electroluminescent “skin” that stretches to more than six times its original size while emitting light.  This could be used for soft robots that move more naturally, and dynamically display information, include health data.  The Cornell press release invites us to imagine “a  health care robot that displays a patient’s temperature and pulse, and even reacts to a patient’s mood.”

The material uses a “hyper-elastic light-emitting capacitor” made of layers of transparent hydrogel electrodes surrounding an insulating elastomer  sheet. The elastomer changes luminance and capacitance when stretched or rolled. The  skin allows soft robots to sense their actuated state and environment and communicate optically.  Small robots can crawl.

Click to view Cornell Universty video.

 

Wearable Tech + Digital Health San Francisco – April 5, 2016 @ the Mission Bay Conference Center

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Assistive Technologies Robotics

Modular exoskeleton adjusts to user’s height, ability

SuitX is a modular, adjustable exoskeleton that adapts to a user’s height or disability.  For example, it can assist only one leg if the other does not require help.  It was developed by Berkeley professor Homayoon Kazerooni. As with other exoskeletons, it allow users to move their hips and knees with small motors attached to orthotics.   One can walk at up to 1.1 miles per hour by controlling buttons incorporated into crutches.

The suit is 27 pounds and costs $40,000.  A backpack battery provides power for 8 hours.  Walking data can be monitored.

Kazerooni  said that his goal is to build a version for children, as those with neurological disorders can require intensive walking training to remain mobile.   He is currently researching the suit’s benefits for adult stroke patients.

Wearable Tech + Digital Health San Francisco – April 5, 2016 @ the Mission Bay Conference Center

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Categories
Eyes Robotics Sensors

Robotic “glove” helps sight-impaired navigate, sense, grab objects

University of Nevada’s Yantao Shen is developing a hand-worn robotic device to help blind and sight impaired people navigate around obstacles, or locate, sense and grasp objects.  Examples include picking up a glass or operating a door handle. The technology combines vision, tactile, force, temperature and audio sensors.

According to Shen: “The visual sensors, very high resolution cameras, will first notify the wearer of the location and shape, and the proximity touch sensors kick in as the hand gets closer to the object. The multiple sensors and touch actuators array will help to dynamically ‘describe’ the shape of the object to the hand when the hand is close to the object, allowing people with vision loss to have more independence and ability to navigate and to safely grasp and manipulate.”

 

Wearable Tech + Digital Health San Francisco – April 5, 2016 @ the Mission Bay Conference Center

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Categories
Robotics Seniors

Senior robots perform tasks, respond to emergencies

This picture taken on February 23, 2015 shows a polar bear robot "Robear" lifting a woman for a demonstration in Nagoya, central Japan. The "Robear", developed by Riken Institute and Sumitomo Riko, has a polar cub-like face with big doey eyes, but packs enough power to transfer frail patients from a wheelchair to a bed or a bath. A historically low birth rate and ever-increasing life expectancy means Japan's population of elderly people is growing, while the pool of youngsters to look after them is shrinking. AFP PHOTO / JIJI PRESS JAPAN OUT (Photo credit should read JIJI PRESS/AFP/Getty Images)

Robots can help seniors age in place.  Following are examples of robots that perform tasks, communicate, and notify loved ones in emergencies.

Toyota’s Human Support Robot program’s current robot prototype is compact and highly maneuverable, with a folding arm which can pick up objects off the floor, and bring things down from shelves, among other tasks.   It will be able to be operated remotely by caregivers, with the operator’s face and voice being relayed in real time.

RIKEN and Sumitomo Riko’s  nursing care robot, called Robear, can lift a person from a bed into a wheelchair, or help him/her start up. It is designed to exert force gently, including actuator units with a low gear ratio that allow for softer movement of robotic joints, and tactile, rubber sensors to lift patients.

The GiraffPlus robot works with smart home technologies  Environmental sensors provide movement data, alerting carers of falls, and physiological sensors track health metrics,  such as blood pressure.

Fraunhofer’s Care-O-bot can perform a number of fetch-and-carry tasks; entertain and communicate – reminding an elderly person of important appointments, or when to take their medication – and respond to an emergency. It is able to move towards a fallen person, while communicating  with an emergency center, which can talk to the user by video,  using the robot’s screen, speakers and microphone.

The Bristol Robotics Laboratory has developed a  a “living lab” with smart home functionality. Robotics researchers, seniors with assistive needs and those supporting them to work together to create and test home robotic solutions. The Anchor Robotics Personalized Assisted Living  facility is connected via a network of wireless sensors and Wi-fi cameras to a central controller. Data generated from the sensors will enable the researchers to detect patterns of activity in the house to build adaptable algorithms. The algorithms will then be used to record individual habits and devise personalized robotic systems adapted to individual lifestyles.

WEARABLE TECH + DIGITAL HEALTH SAN FRANCISCO – APRIL 5, 2016  @ THE MISSION BAY CONFERENCE CENTER

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Categories
Robotics Seniors

Robot leads senior fitness classes, corrects participant form

Robocoach uses motion-sensor technology to coach seniors during exercise classes. Created by Ngee Ann Polytechnic student Lim Pei Xuan, the robot has blue eyes and two teeth, and mimics human movements,

Voices are recognized, including instructions to start the session. In large group workouts, the pace is slowed, to ensure that everyone can keep up.   Robocoach can also guide and correct individuals during personalized exercises, including asking them to raise their arms higher.

Categories
AI Robotics Sensors

Robot sensor reads facial expressions to determine emotions

Sungkyunkwan University‘s Nae-Eung Lee has created a stretchable, transparent sensor that helps robots read facial expressions.  It senses smiling, frowning, brow-furrowing and eye-rolling.  The robot then detects movements, including slight changes in gaze, to determine whether people are laughing or crying, and where they are looking.

The ultra-sensitive, wearable sensor layers a carbon nanotube film on two types of electrically-conductive elastomers.

Lee believes that in addition to robotics, the sensors could be used to monitor heartbeats, breathing, or dysphagia. 

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Autism Robotics

Robot helps build social skills in autistic kids

Milo by RoboKind is a humanoid robot designed to engage and build social skills in children with autism.  It is used with  the company’s Robots4Autism curriculum which includes conversation, social situation, and emotional understanding modules.

Milo is 2 feet tall, with a childlike voice and facial features.  Its arms move and facial expression change. Sensors gauge eye contact, which is often a problem for children with autism, and cameras and microphones record interactions.

Embedded software includes the Robots4Autism curriculum and components for reporting  interaction and progress. Children and therapists use tablets to interact with Milo.

Wearable Tech + Digital Health NYC 2015 – June 30 @ New York Academy of Sciences.  Early registration rate available until March 27th.

Categories
Cancer Robotics

Tiny robotic gripper for cancer diagnostics, remote surgery

Johns Hopkins professor David Gracias has created a tiny, flexible, microscopic, robotic,  hand-like hydrogel gripper that could help doctors perform remotely guided surgical procedures and biopsies.    He believes that the materials could also, in the future,  deliver therapeutic drugs to difficult to reach places.

The hydrogel can swell in response to changes in temperature, acidity or light, providing energy without being tethered to a power source.  A stiff biodegradable polymer makes the  microhands strong enough to wrap around and remove cells.  Magnetic nanoparticles guide the microhands with a magnetic probe.

Wearable Tech + Digital Health NYC 2015 – June 30 @ New York Academy of Sciences