Trial Manufacture of the Meal Assistance Robot using Chopsticks and Control of Grasp Force for Foods

Abstract

Recently, the development of the support robot for daily life has been required under the impact of falling birthrate and the aging population. We have developed a meal assistance robot for disabled or elderly person who cannot take a meal by themselves. In this paper, a system of chopsticks-equipped meal assistance robot trial made is introduced. Chopsticks have a variety of movements for foods handling and are familiar to people in Japan and other Asian countries. The grasp force control of chopsticks for the variety of foods by using the elasticity and maximum force information, is also described.