Human-Assist-Robot for Nursing Use

Abstract

Human friendly robot that works not instead of human being but collaborates with human being is required in the 21st century. The authors have been developing human friendly robot to assist human being in physical tasks, and named such kind robot as Human Assist Robot (H.A.R.). In this report, the authors have developed a prototype of H.A.R. for nursing use in physical assistance as an example of human friendly robot. Since some of the worst tasks in physical nursing for human nurses are to carry up/down the patient from/to the nursing bed, and to carry down the patient to a wheelchair from the bed, the prototype robot assists physically in such kind of tasks. Some experiments are carried out to certify the ability of such kind of tasks. Some experiments are carried out to certify the ability of the prototype H.A.R. in such tasks.