Robot Helps You Put Your Shirt On
By Lim, Angelica; IEEE Spectrum,Publication Date: October 31, 2011
Article features a robot designed to help people with limited arm movement dress. Developed by researchers at Nara Institute of Science and Technology in Japan, the two-armed robot is programmed to slide a shirt over a person’s head and onto his or her torso. Since the person’s neck or arms may not be in the exact same position each time the robot performs this task, a reinforcement learning approach was adopted. Similarly to a child learning through experience, the robot is taught once how to clothe a human user and is then given several attempts to put the shirt on by itself. The success is measured with a motion capture system at the end of each trial. The article includes a video showing that after three trials, the robot has learned the trajectory to place the shirt on without making any errors. Future plans include teaching the robot to put on a pair of pants.
Published by: Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE) (Website:http://www.ieeecss.org)
Link to text: http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/medical-robots/robot-helps-you-put-your-shirt-on
Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Cc4kRYe7OM&feature=player_embedded
