Care-O-bot™:: A system for assisting elderly or disabled persons in home environments

Medical expenses are increasing drastically all over the world. More than 30% of these expenses can be related to elderly people. By the year 2030 the number of GO year old people will have doubled. Technical aids are required allowing people to live independent and supported in their private homes as long as they wish. As a contribution to these required technological solutions a demonstrator platform for a mobile home care system - called Care-O-bot(TM) - was designed and implemented by Fraunhofer IPA, Stuttgart. The Care-O-bot(TM) is a mobile service robot which has the capability to perform fetch and carry and various other supporting tasks in home environments. Main emphasis is laid on intergrating communicational and social features, like video telephone, automatic emergency calls and other interactive communication. Focus of our work performed so far is the mechanical design and realisation of the vehicle, the development of the control system architecture, the implementation and testing of navigation and motion algorithms. The integration of a sensor guided robotic arm for fetch and carry tasks is part of the next development phase.