EDAN fills a drinking cup controlled from the wheelchair
The assistant robot EDAN, controlled from the wheelchair, fills a drinking cup. People with severe physical limitations can be given a high degree of independence in everyday life with this technology.
Many technologies originally developed for space applications, such as the DLR Light-Weight-Robot or teleoperation and shared control methods, can effectively be used in the healthcare domain. At the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics, we particularly investigate assistive technology for people with special needs.
Injuries, accidents, strokes and other diseases can significantly impair the ability to perform even the simplest activities of daily living. In some cases, people can no longer manage their daily lives independently and rely on 24-hour care. In this situation, assistive technology, such as a robotic arm mounted on a wheelchair, can provide help and relief. Thus, in the Re-Enabling Robotics group, we are investigating how such assistive robotics technology can support people with physical disabilities. Following this goal, our research is twofold: On the one hand, we explore novel human-machine interfaces that enable people with severe physical disabilities to control assistive systems. On the other hand, we develop methods for autonomous and semi-autonomous control concepts that allow intuitive use of an assistance robot and provide intelligent support in performing everyday activities. We combine all these methods in our wheelchair-based assistive robot system EDAN (EMG-controlled Daily Assistant), which consists of a power wheelchair equipped with a DLR lightweight robot. This system is supposed to enable people with severe physical disabilities to perform simple daily tasks such as drinking or opening doors independently.
Re-enabling robotics provides efficient daily assistance to people requiring care or with special needs. Robot caregivers cannot and should not replace the human touch and existing care services, but they can ease the burden on the nursing staff and at the same time offer the affected persons more independence in everyday life and a higher quality of life.
Publications
Jörn Vogel, Annette Hagengruber, Maged Samuel Zakri Iskandar, Gabriel Quere, Ulrike Leipscher, Samuel Bustamante Gomez, Alexander Dietrich, Hannes Höppner, Daniel Leidner, Alin Olimpiu Albu-Schäffer, "EDAN – An EMG-controlled Daily Assistant To Help People With Physical Disabilities", in: Proc. of the 2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), virtual event, 26 Oct - 24Dec 2020. [elib]
Whole-body control for combined movement of robotic arm and wheelchair
Lightweight robots combined with power wheelchairs can help restore mobility to people with disabilities.
An EMG-based interface for people with severe muscular atrophy
Various input devices are available for our robotic system EDAN. For people with severe muscular atrophy, the use of a joystick is often no longer an option due to a lack of motor functions.
The mobile robot EDAN (EMG-controlled daily assistant) is an assistive robotic system for people with severe motor impairments. Through the control of muscle signals and integrated shared autonomy, everyday tasks, such as drinking from a glass or opening a door, are made possible.
Shared control applied to the assistive robot EDAN
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Shared control applied to the assistive robot EDAN
The mobile robot EDAN (EMG-controlled daily assistant) is an assistive robotic system for people with severe motor impairments. Through the control of muscle signals and integrated shared autonomy, everyday tasks, such as drinking from a glass or opening a door, are made possible.
