Control of meal support manipulator based on mouth open/close motions

This paper describes meal support-equipment based on mouth open/close motions. The developed controller was attached with the skin surface on the side of the mouth, and it could correctly recognize the mouth open state performed by operation without confusion for the state of masticating something food or speaking words. Next, suggested method was applied for operation of the meal support equipment. In the developed system, the opened width of mouth to use for operation could be individually decided for the purpose of eliminating the physical burden. The LED of all food trays automatically turned on and off in order at a constant period, and user could select the food on the tray by opening the mouth at a moment when the LED illuminated. As for manipulation of scooping food, it could be found that the spoon posture manipulated by human was able to be divided into five processes, and the posture of the spoon equipped on the meal support manipulator was planned emulating the obtained human´s characteristics.