Posts Tagged ‘domestic’

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July 31st, 2009

Robots: Smart Homes - mp3

In today’s episode we look at how technology can improve the quality of life of people with dementia. Our first guest, Roger Orpwood, is the director of the Bath Institute of Medical Engineering, or BIME, in the UK. He presents his smart homes which are being used to help dementia patients stay independent and receive better care. Our second guest Andrew Sixsmith, is Professor at the Simon Fraser University in Canada. He was the leader of the INDEPENDANT project which looked into what it takes to insure the quality of life of elderly people.

Roger Orpwood

Roger Orpwood has been the Director of the Bath Institute of Medical Engineering (BIME) in the UK since 2004. BIME is an independent design and development charity working in the fields of medicine, health care and assistive technology for disabled people. By marrying research and product development, they have been pushing new technologies out the door to the people who really need it.
Nearly 300 projects have been completed since Orpwood joined the Institute, and over 100,000 products sold as a result.

Their latest endeavor has resulted in Smart Homes that are already improving the quality of life of people with dementia by making sure they don’t put themselves into harm’s way while guiding them in their everyday tasks. Within the belly of this robotic home, patients improve their sleep behavior and are able to stay independent for longer amounts of time.

Orpwood also discusses the intricacy of working in real world situations and highly multidiciplinary environments composed of care givers, doctors, engineers and patients. Finally, we look at what it means to do research and product development at the BIME and the beauty of performing the whole path from the lab to people’s home.

Roger Orpwood has visiting chairs in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Bath, and more recently in the School for Health.

Andrew Sixsmith

Andrew Sixsmith is the director of the Gerontology Research Centre at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada, where he is developing ways of using technology to facilitate independent living of patients with dementia. Though keeping dementia patients safe is a priority, Sixsmith has also been looking at ways of increasing their quality of life. As part of the project INDEPENDENT for example Sixsmith developed a music-playing device designed specifically for dementia patients, who are not always capable of learning new complex interfaces such as those found in modern mp3 players. Sixsmith also talks about the importance of designing systems with the dementia patient’s experience in mind, and not that of the people taking care of them.

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March 13th, 2009

Robots: The REEM-B and HUBO Humanoids - mp3

In this episode we talk about humanoid robots, or robots that resemble me and you, at least in some shape or form. We first speak with Davide Faconti, leader of the REEM project, one of the few European contenders in this field. We then speak with Jun Ho Oh from Korea who was the general chair of the last International Conference on Humanoid Robots for his snapshot view of the field. We then look at the HUBO humanoids developed in his lab.

Davide Faconti

Davide Faconti is a devoted robotics passionate and the leader of the REEM humanoid robot project. Having built his first humanoids when competing in the Robocup 2002 and 2003 championships, Faconti quickly moved on to bigger and better robots. Over the last 3 years he has been working with his team of engineers and researchers to build a new breed of humanoid robot from scratch. Sponsored by PAL Technology out of the United Arab Emirates but based in an office in Barcelona, the REEM lab has managed to produce two fully-functional prototypes, the REEM-A and REEM-B.

Even though 3 years of development by a small team is not much compared to some of the major humanoid projects such as the Honda ASIMO, the latest-version REEM-B robot sports some impressive and innovative features. Laser range finders integrated into the feet of the robot allow it to map its environment while walking. It’s payload is an impressive 12kg, while its battery life when unloaded is a full 2hrs. These functions were recently presented in a press conference in Abu Dhabi to a huge reception of journalists and VIPs including his Highness Sheik Tahnoun, and proved that humanoid robots are becoming mainstream worldwide. Check out the video below:



Jun Ho Oh

Jun Ho Oh is the director of the HUBO Lab and Professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) where he’s developed several versions of the HUBO humanoid, named by the general public. The latest version weighs 56kg and measures 125cm, has 10 independent fingers, 2 eyes (vision camera), and 41 degrees of freedom which allow it to walk and move its body parts. However, uncontent with being able to move on their own two legs, his robots can also hop-on a Segway-like vehicle and drive around. His latest robot, the HUBO-FX1 has even raised the bar in bipedal locomotion, by being able to transport people. By compensating for our human uneasiness and motion, the HUBO-FX1 turns out to be a large chair with human-like legs, capable of beating the best elephant rides.

His expertise with humanoids lead him to chair last year’s IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids08), strong of 200+ visitors, international exhibits and demonstrations. Based on this experience, we will be asking for his snapshot view on the state-of-the-art in humanoid robotics.

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