Robotic Elder Care
From: Tech Eye - 03/15/2006

RI-MAN is the world's first robot designed for lifting and carrying humans. A
variety of sensors, including flexible tactile sensor sheets, provide RI-MAN
with a sense of vision, hearing, touch, and smell. These senses help RI-MAN
perform tasks such as locating people who are calling out to it, responding
to spoken commands, carefully lifting those who need lifting, and checking
the sanitary condition of the person it is carrying. RI-MAN is able to
integrate a wide range of sensory data to adapt to changes in the environment. 

Researchers plan to increase the weight of the practice dolls over time, with
the aim of achieving the ability to lift human adults in 5 years. Researchers
will continue working to upgrade RI-MAN’s sensors and data processing skills
to improve adaptability. The aim is to create a robot with the physical power
needed for heavy lifting and the reasoning skills needed for operating in
places like people’s homes. RIKEN says that with these skills, RI-MAN can be
put to work in nursing and rehabilitation, in furniture moving, or in any
other job that requires muscle. 

"We're hoping that through future study it will eventually be able to care
for elderly people or work in rehabilitation," said Toshiharu Mukai, one of
the research team leaders. 

"In the future, we would like to develop a capacity to detect a human’s
health condition through his breath," Mukai said. 

From:
http://www.smartsilvers.com/content/tech/tech_techeye.htm

Links:
RI-MAN website:
http://www.bmc.riken.jp/~RI-MAN/

RI-MAN promotional video:
http://www.bmc.riken.jp/~RI-MAN/video/RI-MAN.mpg

RI-MAN demonstration:
http://www.bmc.riken.jp/~RI-MAN/video/demo.mpg

RI-MAN, the soft and cuddly robot
http://www.engadget.com/2006/02/28/ri-man-the-soft-and-cuddly-robot/

RI-MAN, the soft-skinned robot
http://www.pinktentacle.com/2006/02/ri-man-the-soft-skinned-robot/

RI-MAN revisited
http://www.pinktentacle.com/2006/03/ri-man-revisited/