Meal Assistance Robot Operated by Detecting Voluntary Closed Eye

The number of people with disabilities is growing in Japan. They are facing many kinds of difficulties in their daily lives. Especially, it is even difficult in having meals for the people with upper limb disabilities. They need system which is able to help them in having meals. There are already several types of robots for meal assist. These are operated with joysticks or touch sensors. However, people with upper limb disabilities can barely operate the robots with full functions. Therefore, a maneuverable meal assistance robot which is easy to operate with an eye-interface is proposed for people with upper limb disabilities. The robot is operated by user’s closed eye. The closed eye is designed to be detected by a web camera connected to control unit based on Raspberry Pi. In addition, the proposed robot with orthogonal structure, that offers simple and stable motions, is able to provide foods to users smoothly. Thus, the system in compact size can complete the food providing effectively.