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The population of the United States is older than it has ever been. Currently, the country’s median age is 38.9, which is nearly a decade older than it was in 1980. Moreover, the number of individuals over 65 is projected to increase dramatically from 58 million to 82 million by 2050. The issue of caring for the elderly, amidst care worker shortages, escalating health care expenses, and changing family dynamics, is becoming an ever more pressing societal concern.
To tackle the eldercare dilemma, a group of engineers at MIT is turning to robotics. They have developed and tested the Elderly Bodily Assistance Robot, or E-BAR, a mobile device designed to physically aid the elderly and prevent falls as they navigate their homes.
E-BAR functions as a pair of robotic handlebars that follows an individual from behind. A user can walk unaided or lean on the robot’s arms for support. The robot can bear the person’s full weight, enabling them to transition smoothly between sitting and standing. Furthermore, the robot’s arms can rapidly inflate side airbags if a user begins to fall.
With their design, the researchers aspire to avert falls, which are currently the leading cause of injuries among individuals aged 65 and older.
“Many seniors underestimate the danger of falling and refuse to utilize physical aids, which can be cumbersome, while others may overestimate the risk and avoid exercise, resulting in diminished mobility,” states Harry Asada, the Ford Professor of Engineering at MIT. “Our design concept aims to furnish older adults with balancing issues with robotic handlebars for body stabilization. The handlebars can go anywhere and provide support at any time, whenever it is needed.”
In its existing form, the robot is operated via a remote control. In future developments, the team plans to automate much of its functionality, allowing it to autonomously follow and physically assist a user. The researchers are also focusing on streamlining the device to make it thinner and more agile in tight spaces.
“I believe eldercare presents the next significant challenge,” states E-BAR creator Roberto Bolli, a graduate student in the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering. “All demographic trends indicate a lack of caregivers, a rise in elderly individuals, and a strong preference for seniors to age in place. We view it as an uncharted territory in America, but also a profoundly interesting challenge for robotics.”
Bolli and Asada will unveil a paper detailing E-BAR’s design at the IEEE Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) later this month.
Asada’s group at MIT is working on various technologies and robotic assistants for the elderly. In recent years, others have created fall prediction algorithms and designed robots and automated devices including robotic walkers, wearable, self-inflating airbags, and robotic frameworks that secure a person with a harness and move in tandem as they walk.
In the creation of E-BAR, Asada and Bolli set out to develop a robot that fundamentally performs three tasks: delivering physical support, preventing falls, and moving safely and discreetly alongside a person. Additionally, they aimed to eliminate any harness to grant users more freedom and mobility.
The team endeavored to design a robot specifically for aging in place at home or for assistance in care facilities. Based on their discussions with older adults and their caregivers, they defined several design requirements, including that the robot must fit through home doors, allow the user a full stride, and support their entire weight for balance, posture, and transitions between sitting and standing.
The robot comprises a sturdy, 220-pound base whose dimensions and structure were optimized to support an average human’s weight without tipping or slipping. Beneath the base is a set of omnidirectional wheels that enable the robot to navigate in any direction without pivoting, if necessary. (Envision a car’s wheels adjusting to slide into a space between two other vehicles without parallel parking.)
Extending from the robot’s base is an articulated structure made from 18 interconnected bars, or linkages, that can reconfigure like a foldable crane to lift a person from a seated to a standing position, and vice versa. Two arms with handlebars extend from the robot in a U-shape, allowing individuals to stand between them and lean against if they require extra support. Lastly, each arm of the robot is outfitted with airbags crafted from a soft yet grippable material that can inflate instantaneously to catch a person in the event of a fall, without causing bruising upon impact. The researchers believe that E-BAR is the first robot capable of catching a falling person without the use of wearables or a harness.
The team tested the robot in the laboratory with an older volunteer in various household scenarios. They discovered that E-BAR could actively support the individual as they bent down to retrieve an object from the ground and reached up to grab something off a shelf — tasks that can be challenging while maintaining balance. The robot was also able to lift the person over the edge of a tub, mimicking the process of exiting a bathtub.
Bolli envisions a design similar to E-BAR being ideal for use at home by seniors who still possess a moderate level of muscle strength but require assistive devices for daily activities.
In their current paper, the researchers did not include any fall-prediction functionalities within E-BAR’s airbag system. However, another project in Asada’s lab, led by graduate student Emily Kamienski, is concentrating on developing algorithms using machine learning to control a new robot based on the user’s real-time risk of falling.
Beyond E-BAR, Asada perceives various technologies in his lab as offering different degrees of assistance for individuals at different stages of life or mobility.
This research was partially funded by the National Robotics Initiative and the National Science Foundation.
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