BEING held in a robot’s steely grasp need not be as uncomfortable as it sounds.
Previous attempts to use robots to guide limbs have required the person concerned to be strapped to them. Now a team at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, is developing a human-sized machine which is able to lightly hold a person’s forearm and steer them in the appropriate direction.
The team has equipped the robot with a camera at neck height that detects the person’s position. A sensor on its palm guides its movements as it reaches out to touch the person’s forearm, while touch sensors…
