Lockheed Martin Exploring Program
December 3, 2003

  Research Project

Assistive Robotics

By January 15, we will have the opportunity to upload two research projects for consideration in the Botball 2004 Research Project competition.  We need to form around individuals and teams, reduce to two, and do an initial upload.  The two best project teams can work on their report through the holidays and we can upload the final versions on the night of the January 7 meeting.

Guidelines for the Research

Possible Areas for Assistive Robotics

Notes

Here are some notes on the Assistive Robotics Research topic that might help...

1. I talked to several people in the Montgomery County Public School system about the scope and needs of disabled students in Montgomery County.
a. There are about 9,000 students (out of 140,000) with disabilities, but almost all are cognitive (learning or mental disabilities).
b. There are only about 70 with serious physical disabilities.
c. There are 14 physical disability groups, but when you are trying to help a disabled person, you need to analyze their specific problem.
d. To address a disability, you need to define what you want the person to be able to do, understand what the person brings to the solution, and look at the environment in which they do the task.
e. There is little use of smart technology (assistive robotics) in the MCPS efforts. Most support is purely mechanical -- no onboard computers.

2. Very young children have problems with wheelchairs in the bathroom and in the cafeteria. They could use a smart wheel chair that does not tip over and has some built in navigation. They could use something like a Segway built into their wheelchair.

3. Johns Hopkins has several projects mixing medical and robotics. In one project they are using a robotic walker rather than a wheelchair. Check it out at http://bach.ece.jhu.edu/%7Eetienne/labweb/projects/walking/index.html.

4. If we had time, there is a lot of work on prosthetics going on at Walter Reed with the soldiers coming back from Iraq. There are strong desires to bring them back to active normal capabilities. There are opportunities for assistive robotics.
 

Topic Websites

Supporting Web Sites

Updated: January 3, 2004