Development of the Mobile Platform of Work Assistant Robots for Handicapped People

Development of the Mobile Platform of Work Assistant Robots for Handicapped People

&nbsp;&nbsp;A work assistant robot to help a handicapped person performs in the actual manufacturing environment. Most of the welfare robot systems developed so far for handicapped persons assist them in their daily activities at home. However the handicapped people can truly be satisfied if they can become productive individual in the society. Therefore, it is necessary that work assistant robots be development.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Based on the statistical data of the handicapped type and work, the work assistant robot was designed with three parts ; mobile platform, forklift and robot arm. This paper mainly describes the mobile platform highlighting its features such as user convenience and safety. The driving-steering mechanisms of a mobile robot, joystick interface for easy mobile control, obstacle detection using ultra sonic sensors, and other user-friendly devices such as a rotating chair, a foothold and a rear monitoring system are described. The trial results confirmed the effectiveness of the work assistant mobile robot for the handicapped people to perform in actual factory environments.