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This story is from the category Augmenting Organics
Date posted: 09/05/2010 The idea of a robot in the kitchen cooking us meals sounds great. We better just watch out for that swinging knife. To find out what would happen if a robot handling a sharp tool accidentally struck a person, German researchers set out to perform a series of stabbing, puncturing, and cutting experiments. They fitted an articulated robotic arm with various tools (scalpel, kitchen knife, scissors, steak knife, and screwdriver) and programmed it to execute different striking maneuvers. They used a block of silicone, a pig's leg, and at one point a human volunteer's bare arm as their, uh, test surface. The researchers -- Sami Haddadin, Alin Albu-Schaffer, and Gerd Hirzinger from the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics, part of DLR, the German aerospace agency, in Wessling, Germany -- presented their results today at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, in Anchorage, Alaska. The main goal of the study was to understand the biomechanics of soft-tissue injury caused by a knife-wielding robot. But the researchers also wanted to design and test a collision-detection system that could prevent or at least minimize injury. Apparently the system worked so well that in some cases the researchers were willing to try it on human subjects. See the full Story via external site: spectrum.ieee.org Most recent stories in this category (Augmenting Organics): 03/03/2017: Adjustable Smart Desks join the Internet of Things |
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