Validation of Improvements of Robotic Devices for Nursing Care using a Sensing Dummy Simulating Human Body.

Abstract

The population in advanced countries is rapidly aging, and these countries are faced with various issues pertaining to the rapidly aging population. It is expected that manpower shortages for nursing care of the elderly will be resolved using robotic devices. A method is necessary for quantifying the load of the human body that is envisaged to encourage the widespread use of robotic devices for nursing care. Therefore, we developed a sensing human dummy consisted of several sensors that emulated the stiffness of the human body and its shape. In a previous study, we developed the buttock dummy that consisted of emulated bones and soft tissue. In this study, we mounted force sensors, and emulated blade bones and soft skin. We compared the robotic beds "Resyone" with "Resyone Plus" and showed that the latter elicited improved comfort with respect to the former. In these experiments, we used the sensing dummy and the visual markers to evaluate the load and the posture of users. From the validation experiments, the shear force of the sacral bone of Resyone Plus was determined to be lower than that for Resyone owing to the movement of the foot.