A Closer Look At Personal Service Robots
FIGURE 10. Anthropomorphic robot Armar III.
FIGURE 11. Completed grippers for the PR- 2.
robot in Figure 6 appears to be using a standard
stethoscope on a patient. The NZ researchers have
used over $5 million in grants working along with
Korean researchers to develop a robot that can
take blood pressure, heart beat, and similar
measurements.
Rather than emulating an actual doctor,
the robot will circle a waiting room, take vitals
from patients, and reassure them that a real
doctor will be with them soon. The robot is
the first in a series of proof-of-concepts to
lead the researchers to an automated health
system. The real turning point will be when
humans accept robots in place of real
doctors. The Selwyn Retirement Village in
Auckland uses the robot nicknamed Charlie
(shown in Figure 7) to greet people via the
touch screen, take the residents blood
pressure, and deliver medications as required.
Similar to the RP- 7 by In Touch Health Systems,
the robot is built by Yujin Robot of Korea for
HealthBots. The three foot, six inch, 99 pound
Charlie can also call for assistance should
someone fall.
Murata Machinery in cooperation with
NEDO (a Japanese advisory group) has
developed the robotic nurse shown in Figure
8. This robot nurse was developed as part of
Japan’s “Project for Strategic Development of
Advanced Robotics Elemental Technologies”
led by NEDO. It is touted by the media to
deliver medications to patients in the hospital,
especially during late night hours. This doesn’t
mean that it will enter a patient’s room and
jab them with a needle, but rather it will
enter and alert the patient to take their
medication from a tray and swallow them
with a provided drink of water. Again, like the
New Zealand research robot, this is a first
step in truly implementing robots in the
hospital environment, (this is similar to the earlier
HelpMate robot built by Joe Engelberger’s
company). In Japan, nurses earn a higher salary
than they do here in the US, so robotizing some of
the more mundane tasks is economic, plus it will
allow nurses to concentrate on more complex
medical procedures for which they were trained.
FIGURE 12. The PR- 2 from Willow Garage.
80 SERVO 03.2010
