Robotics
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Robots for the Aged Society
The International Organization for Standardization, in ISO 8373, gives the definition of robot as: "an automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose, manipulator programmable in three or more axes, which may be either fixed in place or mobile for use in industrial automation applications." [1]
There were more than one million robots in operation worldwide in the first half of 2008, with roughly half in Asia, 32% in Europe, 16% in North America, 1% in Australasia and 1% in Africa. [2]
Robots can be roughly classified into two categories; industrial and non-industrial. Non-industrial robots are generally focused on a service, or a job they are needed to do. The former includes tasks which a robot can do with greater productivity, accuracy, or endurance than a human. Currently, many factory jobs are performed by robots that enable us to provide cheaper mass-produced good, for instance, automobiles and electronics. Robotic applications often consist of dirty, dangerous, or dull jobs which humans find undesirable. The expected application fields of such robots include domestic works, medical surgery, rehabilitation assistance and care service for the aged.
Issues
The average age of population is increasing in many countries, especially in Japan, meaning that there are more elderly people to care for with fewer people available to do so. In response to this, there has been a push in the development of rehabilitation robots to support the physical and mental aspects involved in care for the elderly and disabled. It is envisioned that robots will provide not only a reduction in the cost of providing care, but also an improvement in the quality of human life.
However, there are concerns involved in robotic care systems:
1. Availability of robots (due to social/financial inequality)
2. Robots are not human, and so a component of danger is possible
3. Acceptance by elderly and disabled people
5. Acceptance by user (caregiver)
6. Technical difficulty (possibility of breakdowns)
7. Trouble related to vested group on developing
Justification
Population aging is constituted by a shift in the distribution of a country's population towards greater ages. Thus an increase in the population's mean or median age, a decline in the fraction of the population composed of children, or a rise in the fraction of the population that is elderly are all aspects of population aging. Many countries in the world are facing aging society as shown table I. We are facing lack of labor and various fields of industry, especially care service. In order to solve these problems, a robot attracted attention as an alternative. Consequently, such social environment leads a person to use robot in daily life. Table 1. Dynamics of Population Aging in the Modern World [3] Observed and Forecasted Percentages of the Elderly (65+ years) in Selected Areas, Regions, and Countries of the World: 1950, 2000 and 2050.
Area 1950 2000 2050
World 5.2% 6.9% 19.3%
Africa 3.2% 3.3% 6.9%
Latin America and the Caribbean
3.7% 5.4% 16.9%
China 4.5% 6.9% 22.7%
India 3.3% 5.0% 14.8%
Japan 4.9% 17.2% 36.4%
Europe 8.2% 14.7% 29.2%
Italy 8.3% 18.1% 35.9%
Germany 9.7% 16.4% 31.0%
Sweden 10.3% 17.4% 30.4%
U.S.A. 8.3% 12.3% 21.1%
Source: United Nations 2001.
Scientific Basis/efficacy/evidence)
1. Mechanical engineering （Body） / Materials, Structure, Control
2. Computer （Brain） /Architecture, Networks
3. Sensor technology （Sense） /Device, Signal processing
4. Information processing （Intelligence） /Recognition, Communication, Interface
Research projects
Research of service robot for aged people is being conducted by universities and institutes. Some examples are:
1) TWENDY-ONE
TWENDY-ONE is a sophisticated human-symbiotic-robot which equips all the functions described above. The special feature of TWENDY-ONE is the combination function of the dexterity with passivity and the high-power output. TWENDY-ONE equips high output actuators with the simple mechanical passive impedance mechanism. When TWENDY-ONE manipulates an object with various shapes, it is easy for TWENDY-ONE to adapt to the object by passivity to absorb external force generated by the positioning deviation. In the same way, TWENDY-ONE can adapt to human motion and hold a human. As a result, TWENDY-ONE can manipulate an object dexterously as well as support a human.
2) RI-MAN
Someday, robots could replace humans as nurse's aides, but first they will need a little sensitivity training. Japan's Ri-Man is headed in the right direction. With sensors that enable it to see, smell and hear its environment, it also has some 320 pressure points on its arms and chest that allow it to sense the exact position of whatever it's holding. The bot can lift 80 lbs. today, but researchers hope to strengthen the motors in Ri-Man's arms without increasing their size, so they still resemble those of a man, not a monster.
Players
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Waseda University [4]
- The Biomimetic Control Research Center, RIKEN, Nagoya, Japan [5]
Funding
1. The Robotics Industry Development Council
2. New Enegry and Industrial Technology Development Organization
3. Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare
4. Industry Science Technology Foundation
5. Shimane Industrial Promotion Foundation (for enterprise only)
Commercial
Products
1) WAKAMARU
Wakamaru is a Japanese domestic robot made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, primarily intended to provide companionship to elderly and disabled people.
2) PARO
Recent advances in robotics have been applied to automation in industrial manufacturing with the primary purpose of optimizing practical systems in terms of such objective measures as accuracy, speed, and cost. However, the resulting robots are mostly kept away from human beings because people can be injured during their everyday functioning. Unlike industrial robots, “Mental Commitment Robots” are developed to interact with human beings and to make them feel emotional attachment to the robots. Rather than using objective measures, these robots trigger more subjective evaluations, evoking psychological impressions such as “cuteness” and comfort. Mental Commitment Robots are designed to provide 3 types of effects: psychological, such as relaxation and motivation, physiological, such as improvement in vital signs, and social effects such as instigating communication among inpatients and caregivers.
3) PAPERO
The PaPeRo is a personal robot being developed by Japanese firm, NEC Corporation. It is noted for its cute appearance and its facial recognition system. The robot's development began in 1997 with the first prototype, the R100, and adopted the name PaPeRo, which stands for "Partner-type-Personal-Robot" in 2001. The PaPeRo has been researched and developed with the intention of its being a partner with human beings and its being able to live together with them. For this reason, it has various basic functions for the purpose of interacting with people. Here we introduce the essential elements and functions needed for that interaction.
4) HAL
HAL has developed to expand and improve physical capabilities. The power units are attached on each joint of HAL. The torque of power units are converted from HAL to wearer's limb through the mold fastening equipments. Potentiometers are attached to the each joint in order to measure the joint angles. The FRF sensors are embedded into shoes to detect the CoP (Center of Point). The bioelectrical signal sensors are detected to the signals such as myoelectricity. In addition, a computer and batteries are attached on a wearer's waist, so the wearer can move in stand-alone mode.
5) MY SPOON
Eating is a basic motion for humans. MY SPOON, as meal-assistance robot, assists the physically handicapped person to eat by him/herself.
The Pyxis Pharmacy Robot automatically dispenses patient specific medication from an internal stock and is believed to reduce dispensing errors.
Anticipated release March 2010
Players
- Graduate School of Science & Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan and Graduate School of Engineering, Kanazawa Institute of Technology, Japan [6]
- National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan [7]
- Sato, M.; Sugiyama, A.; Ohnaka, S.;” Auditory system in a personal robot, PaPeRo” Consumer Electronics, 2006. ICCE’06. pp.19-20, 2006. [8]
- Hayashi, T.; Kawamoto, H.; Sankai, Y.;,” Control method of robot suit HAL working as operator's muscle using biological and dynamical information”, Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2005 (IROS2005). pp.3063-3068. 2005. [9]
- Zhang, Xiu; Wang, Xingyu; Wang, Bei; Sugi, Takenao; Nakamura, Masatoshi;,” Real-time control strategy for EMG-drive meal assistance robot — my spoon,” Control,Automation and Systems, 2008. ICCAS 2008. pp.800-803. 2008. [10]
Procurement
Business Models
Standards
The ISO/TC184/SC2 decided to begin standardizing industry robots, including service robots, in a Paris meeting (Paris, July 2006). The standard for safety of robots started in October 2006.
Gaps
Gaps in technology
Many researches have been studied to adapt to daily life. However, there are few robots that were used practical due to the following reasons: 1. Miniaturization 2. Saving energy 3. Cost 4. Limited function
Gaps in the basic science
Scientific Bases on
1. Accuracy
2. Reliaility
3. Flexibility
Issues on
4. Cognitive Science
5. Psycology
6. Brain science
Gaps in operation
A number of sensors which are able to sense its environment suffer from drift and error by environmental conditions. Consequently, such factors gave us a feeling of insecurity. Besides, mostly robots do not have the second best policy when a robot could not acquire a desirable data at each sensor. After all, it makes robot to stop, stumble, or do unexpected action.
Gaps in implementation
A robot deals faithfully with command by humans or preprogram. We are able to predict the problem of robot as follows:
1. It is difficult to accomplish parallel assigned tasks at same time.
2. Many robots can not cope with unforeseeable circumstance.
3. The order of priority in robot should regulate depend on situations.
Future Vision
The development of human symbiotic robots that can support human daily activities is greatly expected to be a measure against labor shortages in aging societies. A robot should become intelligent, including emotion and intention of humans, and have multi-functions and ability of sensing environment reliably. Furthermore, it is desirable for shape of robot to be familiar and user-friendly. Although there are many problems when the robot supports humans in daily life, it becomes one of alternative in aging society. In order to do that, the positive perception of the robots is indispensable. Finally, a robot and humans would be symbiotic relationship.
Related Aspects of Ageing in CAPSIL:
Related Interventions in CAPSIL:
References
[1] "Definition of a robot" (PDF). Dansk Robot Forening. Archived from the original on 2008-07-15. Retrieved on 2007-09-10.
[2] Robots Today and Tomorrow: IFR Presents the 2007 World Robotics Statistics Survey". World Robotics (2007-10-29).
[3] Gavrilov L.A., Heuveline P. Aging of Population. In: Paul Demeny and Geoffrey McNicoll (Eds.) The Encyclopedia of population. New York, Macmillan Reference USA, 2003, vol.1, 32-37.
[4] H.IWATA, S.KOBASHI, T.AONO, T.KOBAYASHI and S.SUGANO: “Development of 4-DOF Anthropomorphic Tactile Interaction Manipulator with Passive Joint,” Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics, 2007
[5] Toshiharu Mukai, Masaki Onishi, Tadashi Odashima, Shinya Hirano, and Zhiwei Luo : "Development of the Tactile Sensor System of a Human-Interactive Robot "RI-MAN"", IEEE Transactions on Robotics, Vol.24, No.2, pp.505-512, (2008).
[6] Namera, K.; Takasugi, S.; Takano, K.; Yamamoto, T.; Miyake, Y.;” Timing control of utterance and body motion in human-robot interaction,” Robot and Human interactive Communication, 2008. RO-MAN2008. pp. 119-123, 2008.
[7]Wada.K, Shibata.T, “Robot Therapy in a care house – Its sociopsychological and Physiological Effects on the Residents-,” International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA2006), pp.3966-3971. 2006. [8] Sato, M.; Sugiyama, A.; Ohnaka, S.;” Auditory system in a personal robot, PaPeRo” Consumer Electronics, 2006. ICCE’06. pp.19-20, 2006.
[9] Hayashi, T.; Kawamoto, H.; Sankai, Y.;,” Control method of robot suit HAL working as operator's muscle using biological and dynamical information”, Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2005 (IROS2005). pp.3063-3068. 2005.
[10] Zhang, Xiu; Wang, Xingyu; Wang, Bei; Sugi, Takenao; Nakamura, Masatoshi;,” Real-time control strategy for EMG-drive meal assistance robot — my spoon,” Control,Automation and Systems, 2008. ICCAS 2008. pp.800-803. 2008.
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