Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Design And Testing Of A Prototype Gripper For A Wheelchair Mounted Robot, Koushik R. Barhale

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The application of technology makes a lot of things easier, but for individuals with disability, it makes things possible. Rehabilitation robotics aims at providing robotic devices, which can act as functional extensions of the user, while performing basic activities. Providing a well-designed gripper as its end-effector can greatly enhance the performance of a rehabilitation robot. The gripper performs simple tasks like picking up objects and manipulating objects, which help in performing activities of daily living.

This thesis describes the development of a prototype gripper for a wheelchair mounted robot. The pre-development surveys conducted before the development of commercialized robotic assistive …

Design And Testing Of A Marsupial/Companion Robot Prototype For A Powered Wheelchair, Sashi Kumar Konda

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Individuals with disabilities yearn for an increased level of independence, seeking to supplement their missing function(s) and to carry on with their lives with minimal or no assistance from another person. A review of the existing assistive-care products has revealed that many of the defects in these devices, particularly in wheelchair-mounted robots, can be alleviated. Surveys have also identified tasks that users would like to perform by themselves, but are constrained from doing so by using currently available devices. An attempt has been made here to try to resolve these issues by developing a prototype of a marsupial robot that …

Intelligent Telerobotic Assistance For Enhancing Manipulation Capabilities Of Persons With Disabilities, Wentao Yu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the development of a telemanipulation system using intelligent mapping from a haptic user interface to a remote manipulator to assist in maximizing the manipulation capabilities of persons with disabilities. This mapping, referred to as assistance function, is determined on the basis of environmental model or real-time sensory data to guide the motion of a telerobotic manipulator while performing a given task. Human input is enhanced rather than superseded by the computer. This is particularly useful when the user has restricted range of movements due to certain disabilities such as muscular dystrophy, a stroke, or any form of …