A dexterous robot arm that can can automatically feed people forkfuls of food has been developed by researchers in the US.
Experts studied how real people use forks to feed each other in order to teach the robot the best way to go about its task.
The arm automatically adjusts both the force it uses and the angle at which it spears items to best pick up and deliver mouthfuls of food - regardless of size or texture.
A dexterous robot arm that can can automatically feed people forkfuls of food has been developed by researchers in the US. The robot simulates real human motions in order to identify, pick up and deliver bite-sized food items using its fork
'Being dependent on a caregiver to feed every bite, every day, takes away a person’s sense of independence,' said roboticist Siddhartha Srinivasa.
'Our goal with this project is to give people a bit more control over their lives.'
To address this, Professor Srinivasa and his colleagues at the University of Washington set out to develop a self-guided feeding system which can feed its user whatever they want to eat, when they want it to.
The solution they have designed, the Assistive Dexterous Arm (ADA), is a nimble automaton which - along with its controlling computer - can be attached to a user's wheelchair.
ADA is guided in part by its on-arm camera and tactile sensor.
When activated, the robot simulates real human motions in order to identify, pick up and deliver bite-sized food items using its fork, adapting its technique depending on the morsel in question.
'When we started the project we realised there are so many ways that people can eat a piece of food depending on its size, shape or consistency. How do we start?', said paper co-author Tapomayukh Bhattacharjee.
Experts studied how real people use forks to feed each other in order to teach the robot the best way to go about its task. This image shows the robot in action
To answer that question, the team set up an experiment to study how people eat various common foods.
Volunteers were observed using a special fork - which contained sensors to measure how much force was being applied to it - to pick up and feed different pieces of food to a mannequin.
The snacks the researchers served up in the tests were picked to have a range of consistencies, covering everything from hard carrots to soft banana slices as well as produce with tough skins but soft insides like grapes and tomatoes.
‘There’s a universe of types of food out there, so our biggest challenge is to develop strategies that can deal with all of them,’ Dr Srinivasa said.
People use different fork techniques to pick up different types of food, the researchers noted.
For items like carrots and grapes, for example, they used wiggling motions to increase the force applied and successfully spear each mouthful.
Softer foods, in contrast, required skewering for an angle, the researchers noticed, to ensure the items didn't slip back onto the plate.
The solution they have designed, the Assistive Dexterous Arm (ADA), is a nimble automaton which - along with its controlling computer - can be attached to a user's wheelchair. Once ADA had picked up food, facial tracking helps it guide the food into the user's mouth
The researchers also observed that the actions of picking up a piece of food on a fork and then feeding it to someone are closely connected.
For example, volunteers would often spear pieces of
