Light weight autonomous climbing robot for elderly and disabled persons' services

Abstract

Human care and service demands an innovative robotic solution to make easier the everyday of elderly and disabled people in home and workplace environments. The EU project MATS has been developing a new concept of climbing robot for this type of service applications. The robot developed by University Carlos III of Madrid is a 5 DOF selfcontaining manipulator, that includes on-board all the control system. The main advantage of the robot is its light weight, about 11 kg for a 1.3 m reach. The robot is a symmetrical arm able to move between different points (Docking Stations) of the rooms and, if it is necessary, "jump" to (or from) the environment to the wheelchair. In this way the MATS robot should became a home companion and assistance for numerous persons. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.