Care-O-bot

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Care-O-bot 3

Care-O-bot are development models of a mobile robot assistant for active support of people, e.g. B. in the household, hotel, nursing home or hospital sectors. The robot has been developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA since the 1990s .

Stages of development

Care-O-bot I.

The first Care-O-bot prototype was built in 1998 at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation . The robot consisted of a mobile basic platform as well as a rotatable and swiveling touchscreen that enabled intuitive communication with people. Care-O-bot I was able to move safely and reliably among people and thus carry out simple transport tasks in the household. He was also used as a trade fair and exhibition guide and served as the basis for the development of the three museum robots in the Museum for Communication Berlin .

Care-O-bot II

The Care-O-bot II, built in 2002, can handle simpler household items and, for example, fetch or bring them. It was equipped with a manipulator , height-adjustable crutches, a tiltable sensor head, the two cameras and a laser scanner for detecting the surroundings, and a tablet PC for control. In addition to the ability for autonomous navigation , which has already been implemented on the Care-O-bot I, the second prototype was able to carry out simple manipulation tasks and could be used as an intelligent walking aid.

Care-O-bot 3

The Care-O-bot 3 was completed in 2008. The robot was equipped with an omnidirectional drive , a manipulator with seven degrees of freedom , a three-finger hand and a large number of sensors . For navigation were as in the previous model laser scanner used. The rotatable and tiltable sensor head contains two color cameras and a 3D camera for 3D environment detection in real time. As an interactive butler, Care-O-bot 3 was already able to independently recognize and pick up typical household items and to hand them over to people using a tray.

Care-O-bot 4

The latest version, Care-O-bot 4, was completed in January 2015. While the predecessor was primarily used for the development of technological fundamentals since 1998, its modular structure is intended to provide the basis for product families of commercial service robot solutions. It is more agile, more modular and cheaper than its predecessor. The exterior of the Care-O-bot 4 was developed by Fraunhofer IPA together with the Stuttgart design studio Phoenix Design. For product design, the Red Dot Design Award was presented in 2015 in the Product Design category with the distinction "best of the best".

Possible application

Care-O-bot currently serves as a high-tech research platform. The robot can be configured individually and equipped with sensors and actuators.

Care-O-bot 4

household

Care-O-bot 4 could serve as a mobile robot assistant that actively supports people in daily life by e.g. B. brings food or assists with cooking or takes over this completely.

Services

Other possible uses are the support of patients and staff in medical facilities, the delivery of food in restaurants, support at the reception or in room service in hotels or as an entertainment platform. In a pilot project, the robot was adapted for use in retail. In a Saturn store in Ingolstadt, he greets customers as a shopping assistant named Paul and guides them to the desired product.

Industry

In an industrial environment, Care-O-bot could be used as a picking device in the warehouse or for loading and unloading machines. The basic module can be used as a transport platform.

Care-O-bot 3

Collection and delivery services

To place an order with Care-O-bot, the user selects the desired object using a mobile device. This can be, for example, a smartphone or the touchscreen , which is integrated in the robot's tablet (or in the latest generation in the head). Care-O-bot is programmed in such a way that it knows where a certain object is in the home. His navigation system enables him to independently follow the optimal route to the given destination. He locates the selected object, grabs it with his robotic arm and places it on his tray for transport and forwarding to the user.

Entertainment and communication

Video calls can be made using the robot's interactive touchscreen. It can also be used as a game board for interactive mind games and cognitive training. Music or radio plays can be played. He can remind you of important appointments such as taking medicine.

Emergency support

Care-O-bot can move towards a fallen person and set up a video connection to an emergency center.

Technical details

Hardware and software details of Care-O-bot 4:

hardware Modularity Care-O-bot 4 consists of 6 independent and configurable plug-and-play modules. Depending on the required application, the Care-O-bot-4 solution can be adapted: from a simple transport unit to a fully developed two-armed robot .
agility Two ball joints with up to 31 degrees of freedom offer a large working area, which is fully equipped with sensors . The spherical joints enable roll-pitch-yaw movements of the torso and head, allowing the robot to perform a variety of gestures and body movements.
interaction Care-O-bot 4 has an easily accessible touchscreen on the head as well as microphones for speech recognition and cameras for person and gesture recognition. With gestures such as nodding or shaking the head, making sounds, the LED ring in the torso or a laser pointer in the hand, the robot can tell the user in an intuitive way what it is planning or has understood.
software
Open source The robot has open software interfaces so that its functionality can be easily expanded. It is supplied with open source drivers from the Open Source Robot Operation System ROS . ROS enables the Care-O-bot 4 to use a large number of service robot components from the areas of navigation , manipulation and perception .
Software Development Kit (SDK) Developers can use the simulation and visualization tools of the Open Source Care-O-bot offer free of charge.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Care-O-bot 4 , accessed April 13, 2015
  2. ^ Care-O-bot I , accessed April 13, 2015
  3. ^ Care-O-bot II , accessed April 13, 2015
  4. ^ Care-O-bot 3 , accessed April 13, 2015
  5. ↑ Care-O-bot 4 press release, press release from January 15, 2015, accessed on April 13, 2015
  6. ^ Care-O-bot 4 Red Dot Award , Stuttgarter Nachrichten on April 17, 2015, accessed on September 21, 2015
  7. ↑ Care-O-bot 3 application , accessed April 13, 2015
  8. ^ Care-O-bot 4 Handel , Horizont on November 8, 2016, accessed on February 21, 2017