AugLimb: A compact robotic limb to support humans during everyday activities

Researchers astatine Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and University of Tokyo precocious developed AugLimb, a compact robotic limb that could enactment humans arsenic they implicit a assortment of tasks. This caller limb, presented successful a insubstantial pre-published connected arXiv, tin widen up to 250 mm and grasp antithetic objects successful a user's vicinity.

"We are funny successful quality augmentation technologies, which purpose to heighten quality capabilities with accusation and robotics approaches," Haoran Xie, 1 of the researchers who carried retired the study, told Tech Xplore. "We peculiarly absorption connected the carnal augmentation of quality bodies."

Most existing wearable robotic arms are designed to beryllium mounted connected a quality user's precocious assemblage (e.g., connected the precocious arm, waist oregon shoulders). While immoderate of these systems person achieved promising results, they are typically based connected bulky hardware and wearing them tin beryllium uncomfortable for users.

"Most antecedently developed supernumerary robotic limb devices are dense and inhabit ample space," Xie said. "Instead, we projected a compact robotic limb that tin fold into tiny measurement without the interrupt to the wears' regular activities, particularly for long-time usage."

In opposition with different robotic arms, AugLimb tin widen significantly, becoming astir 2.5 times longer than a human's mean forearm length. Moreover, it is highly compact and frankincense casual to store.

Credit: Ding et al.

"AugLimb has 7 DOFs (degree of freedoms) and tin beryllium easy fabricated utilizing mean 3D printers and motors," Xie said. "Compared to existing robotic limbs, AugLimb has human-centric plan that mostly improves the wearer's experience, truthful that anyone tin bask it portion reaping the benefits of the enhanced assemblage capabilities derived from having a 'third arm'."

In summation to being compact, the robotic limb developed by Xie and his colleagues is lightweight and comfy to wear. This besides makes it suitable for users with much fragile bodies, including children and older adults.

"The astir notable accomplishment of our survey is that we were capable to make a robotic limb that is compact and tin scope crossed agelong distances portion successful use," Xie said. "We judge that AugLimb volition beryllium arsenic fashionable arsenic astute watches successful the adjacent future, arsenic anyone from an elder to a kid tin comfortably deterioration it for the full day."

AugLimb fundamentally serves arsenic a 3rd arm, frankincense it could beryllium peculiarly utile successful situations wherever humans implicit tasks that impact a important magnitude of entity manipulation, specified arsenic cooking oregon cleaning. The researchers besides judge that it could beryllium utilized by doctors performing surgical operations, operation workers and different professionals who implicit manual tasks connected a regular basis.

The robotic limb developed by Xie and his colleagues is inactive astatine a prototype stage. However, the squad plans to proceed investigating it and improving its capabilities, to marque it progressively effectual and commercially viable. For instance, the AugLimb prototype is presently controlled by quality operators manually, but the squad would similar to amended its control mechanism by exploring alternate solutions.

"In our aboriginal studies, we would similar to research effectual ways to power AugLimb with biologic information, specified arsenic electromyography (EMG) signals from muscles oregon electroencephalogram (EEG) techniques that observe encephalon waves," Xie said. "We besides program to usage heavy learning to amended the investigation of these signals."

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More information: AugLimb: Compact robotic limb for quality augmentation. arXiv:2109.00133 [cs.HC]. arxiv.org/abs/2109.00133

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