Live experimentation of the service robot applications for elderly people care in home environments

Human care and service demands need an innovative robotic solution to make easier the everyday life of elderly and disabled people in home and workplace environments. The main objective of this project is to develop a new concept of climbing robot for this type of service applications. The robot is a 5 DOF self-containing manipulator, that includes on-board all the control system. The main advantage of the robot is its light weight, about 11 kg for a 1.3m reach. The robot is totally autonomous and needs only power supply to be operated. The robot is a symmetrical arm able to move (or to climb) between different points (docking stations) of the rooms and, if it is necessary, "jump" to (or from) the environment to the wheelchair. In this way the MATS robot should become a home companion and assistance for numerous persons. This paper presents the live experimentation of the robot. Different tasks have been tested such as: eating, shaving, making-up, etc.