A portable light‐weight climbing robot for personal assistance applications

Purpose – Human care and service demands will need innovative robotic solutions to make the day‐to‐day life of elderly and disabled people in home and workplace environments easier. The main objective of this work is to develop a new concept of climbing robot for this type of service applications. Design/methodology/approach – ASIBOT is a 5 DOF self‐containing manipulator that includes the entire control system on‐board. The main advantage of this robot is its light weight, about 11 kg with 1.3 m reach. The robot is totally autonomous and only needs a power supply to be operated. Findings – The robot is an arm able to move between different points (Docking stations (DS)) of the rooms and, if necessary, “jump” to (or from) the environment to the wheelchair. In this way the ASIBOT robot could become a home companion and assistance for numerous people. Originality/value – ASIBOT is a 5 DOF self‐containing light weight manipulator that includes the entire control system on‐board.