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

2016 ◽  
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.

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

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.

The Design of a Dexterous Gripper to be Used for Activities of Daily Living by People With Upper-Extremity Disabilities

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Redwan Alqasemi ◽  
Sebastian Mahler ◽  
Rajiv Dubey
Keyword(s):  
Activities Of Daily Living ◽  
Upper Extremity ◽  
Daily Living ◽  
The Other ◽  
Robotic Arm ◽  
Driving Mechanism ◽  
Actuation Mechanism ◽  
Parallel Motion ◽  
Different Shapes ◽  
Wheelchair Mounted Robotic Arm

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.

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

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.

The Design of an Expressive Humanlike Socially Assistive Robot

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Allison ◽  
Goldie Nejat ◽  
Emmeline Kao
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Design ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Upper Body ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Assistive Robots ◽  
Actuation System ◽  
Assistive Robot ◽  
The Face ◽  
Socially Assistive Robot ◽  
Hospital Wards

It is anticipated that the use of assistive robots will be one of the most important service applications of robotic systems of the future. In this paper, the development of a unique noncontact socially assistive robot consisting of a humanlike demeanor is presented for utilization in hospital wards and nursing∕veteran homes to study its role and impact on the well-being of patients, addressing patient’s needs and its overall effect on the quality of patient care. The robot will be an embodied entity that will participate in hands-off noncontact social interaction with a patient during the convalescence, rehabilitation, or end-of-life care stage. The robot has been designed as a platform to incorporate the three design parameters of embodiment, emotion, and nonverbal communication to encourage natural human-robot interactions. Herein, we present the overall mechanical design of the socially assistive robot focusing mainly on the development of the actuation system of the face, head, and upper body. In particular, we propose the development of a unique muscle actuation mechanism for the robotic face to allow for the display of rich facial expressions during social assistive interaction scenarios. The novelty of the actuation system is in its use of the dependency of facial muscle activity to minimize the number of individual actuators required to control the robotic face.

A Robotic Arm for Electric Scooters

2011 ◽  
pp. 94-109
Author(s):  
Samuel N. Cubero
Keyword(s):  
Frail Elderly ◽  
Mechanical Design ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Robotic Arm ◽  
Robot Arm ◽  
Self Sufficiency ◽  
Electric Scooter ◽  
Manipulator Arm ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Three Degree Of Freedom

This chapter describes the mechanical design, manufacture and performance of a three-degree-of-freedom manipulator arm and gripper that can be attached to a mobile vehicle or electric scooter. Known by the acronym “ESRA”, or “Electric Scooter Robot Arm”, this device can be remotely or automatically controlled to pick up and retrieve heavy objects, such as books or grocery products, from high shelves or difficult-to-reach locations. Such tasks are often considered to be arduous or even impossible for the frail elderly and people with disabilities. This chapter describes one example of how the combination of mechanical and electronic engineering technology can be used to perform physically strenuous tasks and enable the frail elderly and people with disabilities to enjoy a greater degree of self-sufficiency, independence and physical productivity. It includes the design process for robotic arm manipulators and actuators. It also provides a brief overview of existing “state of the art” robotic and machine vision technologies, and how these can be used to perform many everyday domestic or household chores.

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