Wiping the mouth using the robot arm with information of RGB-D sensor

• Published in: Artificial life and robotics Vol. 24; no. 3; pp. 360 - 367
• Main Authors: Ikeda, Takeshi, Makino, Tetsuhiro, Furuno, Seiji, Nagata, Fusaomi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo Springer Japan 01.09.2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Artificial Intelligence; Computation by Abstract Devices; Computer Science; Control; Food; Gymnastics; Manpower; Meals; Mechatronics; Original Article; R&D; Research & development; Robot arms; Robotics; Swallowing; Face tracking; Meal support; Manipulator; Swallowing exercise
• ISSN: 1433-5298; 1614-7456
• DOI: 10.1007/s10015-019-00533-1

In recent years, research and development of robots in the field of welfare has been actively conducted. This study focused on a meal support in welfare. For healthy subjects, the action on meals is simple, but also includes difficult movements for those with impaired upper limbs. Furthermore, in recent years, it has become difficult to support each person due to the lack of manpower at welfare sites. Therefore, it can be expected that further support robots will be needed in the future. A meal support is not all that carries food. There is a need to support before and after that. For example, making it easier to swallow food, making food easier to eat, attaching seasoning, wiping off stains on the mouth are also among the dietary support. This study focuses on support before and after meal support. In this study, we aimed to promote swallowing gymnastics before meals to make it easy to swallow food, and to do the work of wiping the mouth after eating with a robot arm.