Design, simulation and testing of a new modular wheelchair mounted robotic arm to perform activities of daily living

A new robotic gripper was designed and constructed for Activities of Daily Living (ADL) to be used with the new Wheelchair-Mounted Robotic Arm developed at USF. Two aspects of the new gripper made it unique; one is the design of the paddles, and the other is the design of the actuation mechanism that produces parallel motion for effective gripping. The paddles of the gripper were designed to grasp a wide variety objects with different shapes and sizes that are used in every day life. The driving mechanism was designed to be simple, light, effective, safe, self content, and independent of the robotic arm attached to it.

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Autonomous Control and Simulation of a Wheelchair Mounted Robotic Arm Performing Activities of Daily Living Tasks

ASME 2009 Summer Bioengineering Conference, Parts A and B ◽

10.1115/sbc2009-206878 ◽

2009 ◽

Author(s):

Fabian Farelo ◽

Redwan Alqasemi ◽

Rajiv Dubey

Keyword(s):

Activities Of Daily Living ◽

Daily Living ◽

Degrees Of Freedom ◽

Mechanical Design ◽

Robotic Arm ◽

Servo Drive ◽

Control Scheme ◽

And Performance ◽

Mobility Impaired ◽

Wheelchair Mounted Robotic Arm

A wheelchair-mounted robotic arm was designed and developed to enhance the capabilities of mobility-impaired persons with limited upper extremities limitations exceeding previous models specifications and performance [1]. The major enhancements of the wheelchair’s mechanical design are the incorporation of DC servo drive with encoders at each individual joint. The arm has seven degrees of freedom (DoF) and is side-mounted on a power wheelchair (fig 1). The control system allows coordinated Cartesian control, and offers expandability for research in combined mobility and manipulation. This paper discusses the control scheme and a virtual simulation of the existing WMRA prototype performing several activities of daily living.

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Development and evaluation of demonstration information recording approach for wheelchair mounted robotic arm

Complex & Intelligent Systems ◽

10.1007/s40747-021-00350-9 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Mingshan Chi ◽

Yaxin Liu ◽

Yufeng Yao ◽

Yan Liu ◽

Shouqiang Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Daily Living ◽

High Efficiency ◽

The Elderly ◽

Robotic Arm ◽

Programming By Demonstration ◽

Systematic Analysis ◽

Evaluation Approach ◽

Operation Process ◽

Assistive Robot ◽

Wheelchair Mounted Robotic Arm

AbstractTo offer simple and convenient assistance for the elderly and disabled, researchers focus on programming by demonstration approach to improve the intelligence and adaptability of wheelchair mounted robotic arm assistive robot. But how to easily and quickly obtain the demonstration information is still an urgent problem to be solved. Based on the systematic analysis of the daily living tasks in need of robot assistance, this paper proposes the key-point-based programming by demonstration recording approach to quickly obtain the demonstration information and develops a specified demonstration interface to simplify the operation process. A corresponding evaluation approach is also proposed from the demonstration trajectories and demonstration process two aspects. Additionally, tasks of “holding water glass task”, “eating task”, and “opening door task” are carried out and experimental results, as well as comparative evaluations confirm the validity of the proposed approach with high efficiency. This study can not only offer a convenient and feasible way to obtain the demonstration information of daily living tasks, but also lay a good foundation for the assistive robot to learn relative motion skills, especially for the demonstrated dexterous manipulation skills, and semi-autonomously accomplish complex, multi-step tasks following the user’s instructions in the daily home environment.

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Mechanical Design and Analysis of a Wheelchair Mounted Robotic Arm With Adaptable Gripper and Remote Actuation System

Volume 3: 18th International Conference on Advanced Vehicle Technologies; 13th International Conference on Design Education; 9th Frontiers in Biomedical Devices ◽

10.1115/detc2016-60408 ◽

2016 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Matthew Ahlstedt ◽

Carter Duling ◽

Yimesker Yihun

Keyword(s):

Daily Living ◽

Mechanical Design ◽

Neuromuscular Diseases ◽

Upper Body ◽

Robotic Arm ◽

Pulley System ◽

Wheelchair Users ◽

Actuation System ◽

Remote Actuation ◽

Wheelchair Mounted Robotic Arm

Majority of wheelchair users experience upper-body muscular weakness, resulting from neuromuscular diseases, which limit their ability to perform common activities of daily living. A Wheelchair Mounted Robotic Arm (WMRA) will assist these individuals to eat, drink, and move objects as needed. This paper presents the design of a new WMRA as well as the analysis of its function. The design is side-mounted onto either a normal or power wheelchair, and incorporates a slim profile to allow ease of passage through doorways and be otherwise unobtrusive. The arm is easily removable, with assistance, for storage or travel. The mechanical design utilizes a belt and pulley system for remote actuation of each joint, driven by DC Gearmotors located in the base of the arm. This helps to shift the weight closer to the wheelchair and to maintain the required speed, torque and inertia while actively driving each joint of the robot. The end-effector is a unique design, intended to have the adaptability to securely lift a large variety of objects. Grasping simulations were performed on several standard objects which might be encountered daily. Structural, kinematic and workspace analyses are conducted, and results confirm that the designed WMRA is rated to lift a 4 kg payload, while also having a reach of 1.3 meters long radius.

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