A million people around the US cannot feed themselves. Whether they’re living with a disability or age-related challenges, they require a caregiver to spoon food into their mouths for meals or snacks. For this reason, researchers at the University of Washington have been developing a robotic arm for the past year that could enable anyone capable of opening their mouth to feed themselves. The robot can be hooked onto a wheelchair, where it holds a fork, pokes at bites of food, and delivers those bites right into someone’s mouth. To be able to pick up certain foods properly, the researchers recorded able-bodied people using forks to pick up foods like bananas or carrots and trained the robot to do the same. The researchers hope that this personal companion for food could one day replace assisted eating altogether.
This robotic system can feed people who can’t feed themselves
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