A Vision-Based Assistive Robotic Arm for People with Severe Disabilities

Authors

  • Hiroki Higa University of the Ryukyus
  • Kei Kurisu
  • Hideyuki Uehara

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14738/tmlai.24.309

Keywords:

Assistive system, Robotic arm, Image processing, Web camera, People with severe disabilities

Abstract

This paper presents a vision-based assistive robotic arm for people with severe disabilities. This system is composed of a robotic arm, a microcontroller, its controller, and a vision-based unit. The main body of the robotic arm that can be contained in a briefcase is about 5 kg, including two 12-V lead acid rechargeable batteries. This robotic arm is also capable of being mounted on a wheelchair. To obtain position coordinates of an object, image processing technique with a single Web camera was used. Position errors in the order of few millimeters were observed in the experiment. Experimental results of drinking water task with able-bodied subjects showed that they could smoothly carry out the tasks. The present results suggested that the resultant position errors were acceptable for drinking water command.

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Published

2014-07-31

How to Cite

Higa, H., Kurisu, K., & Uehara, H. (2014). A Vision-Based Assistive Robotic Arm for People with Severe Disabilities. Transactions on Engineering and Computing Sciences, 2(4), 12–23. https://doi.org/10.14738/tmlai.24.309