Jetithisari Inc.

      Literature Review

           Having reviewed the articles about providing people with disabilities and illnesses lead a better and safer life, and cope with their hardships, this review shows companies and nonprofit organizations who are researching technology to benefit these patients. Also, companies have already begun starting to create and manufacture robots that are helping the elderly, and many who have lost the ability to walk or move, and even kids who are born with disabilities like autism. This review focuses on the main form of aid to help the sick, the elderly and the weak.

             A company, Willow Garage, from California has already started its research on creating robots that help a wide range of people from the elderly to people with disabilities and illnesses. For example, Henry Evans, at the age of 40 underwent a severe stroke which left him a quadriplegic. Thereafter, Evans soon became one of the first to test a robot named “Jake” with everyday personal tasks. This robot was generously donated by a team of scientists under Willow Garage. (1) “Jake” made by Willow Garage is a 500 pound, 4 foot tall machine specifically designed to aid people like Henry Evans. Jake is a PR2 which is a personal robot created in 2006 with capabilities ranging from folding laundry to even fetching a beer. Leila Takayama, a 31 year old research scientist specialized in psychology, is researching in ways to create the robot more friendly, and make it more of a human than robot.  (2)

              KSERA, Knowledgeable Service Robots for Aging, a small robot designed for domestic use to help the sick elderly with COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a disease that affects old-aged people. A robot especially designed from following around the patient and collecting data from their habits to advising them, warning the doctor when the patient isn’t doing well and even controlling the air conditioner. However helpful KSERA may be, the robot’s specialty is watching these patients close up on a daily basis and help make the elderly patients make the right decisions. (3) Research is underway by Dr. Raymond to progress the KSERA to be more efficient and friendly, so the homes are comfortable places to live in instead of a robot-controlled environment. (4)     

              Helping humanity starts from a wide variety of problems. Research to help kids with autism is a main focus for Professor Kerstin Dautenhahn. Patients with autism suffer from impairments in social interaction, social communications and social imagination and fantasy. (5) Sometimes patients with autism find social interaction with their peers and family daunting and unpredictable and as a result, may shut down. Although there is no cure for autism, and its lifelong effects, Prof. Dautenhahn shows a way to live a better life with the use of a robot named KASPAR. Kaspar, a small child-sized robot works like a bridge, in the sense that, in order to get to the other side of the river, a medium is required in order to pass this river. In this case, the river is the effects of autism, and Kaspar, a bridge that helps the patient pass the “river”. Kaspar’s job is to act as the mediator in a social interaction and even a friend to a child coping with autism. (6)

              Taizo, an interactive rehabilitation robot designed to help the elderly. With the efforts of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology(AIST) and Ibaraki Prefectural Health Plaza, they came up with an ingenious way to help provide physical therapy to people who are not as mobile as they once used to be. (7) Taizo is manually controlled through key inputs and voice command. Taizo performs its job by demonstrating different types of exercise to the patients. The experiment done to make Taizo work properly is measured by the error rate of the voice and key inputs and the demonstrative effect of using both methods. Through the experiment of demonstrating how the robot works, it was proved operational for its job in engaging in health exercises. (8)

               There are many robots which help patients directly but there are also unique ones that help indirectly. A full-body robotic suit, powered by 22 air pumps helps nurse’s crane patients on and off beds. The robotic suit functions by the use of sensors attached to the users skin, recognizing when the user is using muscles to lift something heavy, signaling the pumps to aid in lifting the object. Although the suit is very bulky and makes the user look like a big robot, the results are a success and have proven very comfortable by patients being lifted. (9)

               Technology is used in many aspects of society, but a new revolutionary research has been done on allowing patients to walk using the Indego exoskeleton. This exoskeleton helps patients stand upright and walk, as opposed to having spent the rest of their lives on a wheelchair. This exoskeleton uses multifaceted technology to evade the spinal cord and redirect the brain signals. The exoskeleton key components are the BCI, Brain controlled interface and BNCI, brain/neuronal computer interaction. It converts EEG signals from the brain or EMG signals from shoulder muscles to inevitably control the Mindwalker exoskeleton. This smart technology predicts the user’s movements during walking and controls the movement to avioid the loss of balance leading to falling. After trialing on the robotic exoskeleton, the robot will then be tested in a clinical in Foundation Santa Lucia, and will finally be ready to use. (10)

              Overall, these robots, designed for different areas of problems ranging from helping someone get out of bed, to helping someone interact more smoothly with other people, to a friend that helps around the house.