'Intelligent' hand-held tools developed

British researchers have designed intelligent hand-held tools that know the task that they are supposed to perform.

Historically, hand-held tools have been blunt, unintelligent instruments that are unaware of the context they operate in, fully directed by the user, and critically, lack any understanding about the task they are performing.

"Our results indicate that users tend to prefer a tool that is fully-autonomous and there is evidence of a significant impact on completion time," said one of the researchers Austin Gregg-Smith, doctoral student at the University of Bristol.

Compared with other tools such as power tools that have a motor and some basic sensors, the hand-held robots developed at the university are designed to have more degrees of motion to allow greater independence from the motions of the user.

Thereby, the intelligent hand-held tools are aware of the steps being carried out.

This allows for a new level of co-operation between user and tool, such as the user providing tactical motions or directions and the tool performing the detailed task, the researchers added.

"There are three basic levels of autonomy we are considering: no autonomy, semi-autonomous when the robot advises the user but does not act, and fully-autonomous when the robot advises and acts even by correcting or refusing to perform incorrect user actions," said Walterio Mayol-Cuevas from the University of Bristol.