The RIBA (Robot for Interactive Body Assistance) bot is a robot nurse created by Japan’s Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN) and Tokai Rubber Industries, Ltd. (TRI). The main function of the RIBA nurse robot is to safely pick up and transfer patients weighing up to 135 pounds from one surface to another (like from a bed to a wheelchair).
Take a look at the RIBA video below.
(RIBA [Robot for Interactive Body Assistance] video)
The RIBA nurse robot has multi-jointed arms that are embedded with sensors to help it balance the load; its surface is covered with a soft lightweight urethane foam, forming a soft skin.
RIBA can recognize faces and voices and respond to verbal orders. It also works well with humans, using both visual and audio information from its surroundings.
RIBA's processing power greatly exceeds that of its predecessor and is distributed throughout the body of the robot on more than 20 separate circuit boards to simplify wiring. Omnidirectional wheels in RIBA's base let it maneuver in the cluttered environment of hospital rooms.
Japan has long been concerned with the needs of an aging population combined with fewer children to take care of their parents. Japan's roboticists are ahead in this area, and so are their manga and anime creators. Consider the Roujin-Z robotic hospital bed, which can pick up and carry patients. As a former military robot, it can also defend its patients against all possible health care vicissitudes.
Tactile Skin Supplier Map
'What strange sensitivity! What an amazing development of science was manifested in every move and act and word of this Robot!' - Ray Cummings, 1931.
DIY Robot Scorpion Crushes It
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.' - Neal Asher, 2008.
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Tactile Skin Supplier Map
'What strange sensitivity! What an amazing development of science was manifested in every move and act and word of this Robot!'
Orb Nomad Zero-Emission Electric Aircraft
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair or to perch on a flagpole in imitation of a giant bird, even in the windy city of Chicago.'
DIY Robot Scorpion Crushes It
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.'