Robotic assistant for Mobility-Impaired Patients (RAMP)

摘要

There are currently 10 million American who need mobility assistance leading to an increase of 40 percent in demand for registered nurses by 2020 while the supply of registered nurses will only increase by 6 percent. This supply-demand gap can be partially addressed by a robot assistant to help an individual with limited mobility performs daily tasks. A detailed analysis of the tasks performed by a Mobility Impaired Patient was conducted and used to establish requirements for the robot: (i) to relocate items on behalf of the user, (ii) go to remote locations and relay video images to the user. Based on these requirements a robot was designed and constructed. Design alternatives are evaluated for designing the system to ensure the safety, cost, and energy efficiency. Design alternatives of RAMP are broken down into three stages; 1) base, 2) elevation, and 3) frame. The simulation was made in AutoCAD before building the model. After comparing and analyzing all alternatives, Omni wheels, leadscrew, and alumni frame have the best result due to their efficiency, safety, and cost-effectiveness. The results of verification tests show that the robot can be controlled on a straight line with maximum deviation errors of +/0.05 m. The robot can be stopped at a location in the visual line of sight within a maximum deviation of +/0.05 m. Beyond the visual line of sight, the RAMP can be controlled in a straight-line and stopped with a maximum deviation of 0.05 m from the center and 0.07 m from an object respectively. In future tests, we hope to verify that the robot can lift and carry items weight no more than 1.5 kg, open doors with lever handles and can receive images with the delay of 10 secs. The manufacturing cost of RAMP is $4000 per robot and the expected break-even point would be reached in 17 months.