RIBA II: New-age robot for old-age care

A new robot using high-precision tactile sensors and flexible motor control technology has taken Japan one step closer to its goal of providing high-quality care for its growing elderly population. Developed by researchers at RIKEN and Tokai Rubber Industries (TRI), the new robot can lift a patient up to 80 kg in weight off floor-level bedding and into a wheelchair.

With an elderly population in need of nursing care projected to reach a staggering 5.69 million by 2015, Japan faces an urgent need for new approaches to assist care-giving personnels. One of the most strenuous tasks for such personnel, carried out an average of 40 times every day, is that of lifting a patient from a futon at floor level into a wheelchair. Robots are well-suited for this task, yet none has yet been deployed in care-giving facilities.

In 2009, the RIKEN-TRI Collaboration Center for Human-Interactive Robot Research (RTC) — a joint project established in 2007 and located at the Nagoya Science Park in central Japan — unveiled a robot called RIBA (Robot for Interactive Body Assistance) designed to assist this task. The first robot capable of lifting a patient from a bed to a wheelchair and back, RIBA charted a new course in the development of care-giving robots. It, however, could not crouch down and lift a patient off a futon at floor level, which RTC’s new robot RIBA-II is able to do with the aid of new joints in its base and lower back and newly-developed smart rubber sensors fitted onto its arms and chest, the sensors enable high-precision tactile guidance and to detect a person’s weight from touch, guaranteeing patient safety.