SBIR Phase I: Agile Humanoid Healthcare Robot with Puck-Based Power Regeneration

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目提出了一个机器人解决方案，以缓解护士和相关医护人员日益短缺的问题。设想的机器人将有一个小占地面积，2轮平衡基地;一对灵巧的机械手手臂与手;棱柱关节可延伸的脊柱允许手臂到达地板或橱柜;和传感器的低水平平衡和高水平导航。主要的创新是在被动反向驱动关节和车轮中使用功率再生，以最大限度地提高电池运行时间，这是竞争概念的不足。该项目将提高对如何在高自由度机器人的背景下收获再生功率流的科学理解。 该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力将有助于缓解即将到来的医疗危机，同时保护迅速增长的老年人和体弱者的尊严。 延长生命的医学科学的不断进步显示出各种加速的迹象，并将使老年人在总人口中的比例激增。 即使在目前的经济衰退中，护士和医生的劳动力已经短缺，预计在可预见的未来，这种短缺将变得更加严重。 虽然这个问题只是开始给系统带来压力，但在问题变得势不可挡之前，现在就开发必要的技术是很重要的。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposes a robotic solution to ease the growing shortage of nurses and related healthcare workers. The envisioned robot will have a small-footprint, 2-wheel balancing base; a pair of dexterous manipulator arms with hands; a prismatic-joint extendable spine allowing the arms to reach down to the floor or up to a cupboard; and sensors for low-level balancing and high-level navigation. The main innovation is the use of power regeneration in the passively-backdrivable joints and the wheels to maximize battery run times, which is a deficiency in competitive concepts. This project will enhance the scientific understanding of how to harvest regeneration power flows in the context of a high-number-degree-of-freedom robot. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will help ease a coming healthcare crisis while protecting dignity for the rapidly growing population of the elderly and infirmed. Continuing improvements in life-prolonging medical science show every indication of accelerating and will balloon the percentage of elderly in the general population. Even with the present recession, there is already a labor shortage of both nurses and physicians, and the shortage is projected to grow worse over the foreseeable future. While this problem is only beginning to stress the system, it is important to develop the necessary technology now, before the problem becomes overwhelming.