Evaluations of human physical burdens when using transfer aid robotic system

A simple self-transfer aid robotic system is proposed, and the evaluations on the human´s physical burdens when using a transfer aid robotic system are presented in this paper. A person with weak leg muscles who uses a wheel chair is assumed to be the target user. By using the self-transfer aid robotic system, a user can transfer between a wheel chair and a toilet, for example. The proposed self-transfer aid robotic system is a two DOF system of a single link robotic arm with a saddle on the top, and a horizontal rotation mechanism driven manually. A user puts his/her belly on the saddle of the robotic arm, and then the robotic arm lifts the user´s body. After rotating the user´s body, the robotic arm lowers the user´s body. The experiments on the measurements of the burden to human were conducted to design a simple self-transfer aid robotic system.