Design, control, and evaluation of a meal-assistive robot based on gravity compensation for elderly people with muscle weakness
K. Kim, J. H. Kim, J. B. Kim
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AbstractMeal assistance is a basic and important service in the care of patients or elderly people with muscle weakness. Many meal assistive devices have been developed to address the caregivers shortage (MOMO, 2020). Automatic devices are ideal for disabled people with little residual muscular strength. Arm-supported devices have been widely commercialized to augment muscle strength mainly with spring mechanisms. This study proposes a meal assistive robot with a motor for vertical movement based on gravity compensation. This method can be used by people who have difficulty with passive arm-supported devices to avoid the use of fully-automated devices. The arm-supported device can assist people with muscular dystrophy but has distinct limitations. The proposed method can assist vertical movement with an electrical motor and free horizontal movement according to the user’s intention. In this method, a spring is used with the motor to reduce motor torque. The usability of the meal assistive robot is evaluated with several factors such as effectiveness and satisfaction.Keywords: meal assistance, gravity compensation, muscular compensation, usability evaluation
K. Kim, J. H. Kim, J. B. Kim (2022). Design, control, and evaluation of a meal-assistive robot based on gravity compensation for elderly people with muscle weakness. Gerontechnology, 21(s),7-7
https://doi.org/10.4017/gt.2022.21.s.541.7.sp1