Eduardo: A low cost assistive robot development platform, featuring a compliant end effector

Abstract

People with temporary or permanent disabilities often struggle to perform daily tasks, and this loss of agency can cause undue emotional distress. This paper presents "Eduardo" (Fig.1); a low cost prototype of an assistive robot arm featuring a passive compliant element in the end effector of the arm, to simplify the control of the arm, and ensure the safety of the user during physical interaction. As a demonstration of the prototype, the arm was programmed to comb hair. The robot is envisioned as an open source platform for research into the use of compliance for assistive robots. Fig.1.