Panasonic develops electric care assistance bed and hair-washing robot

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Panasonic Corp has developed an electric care assistance bed with an integrated wheelchair and a hair-washing robot designed to help support safe and comfortable living of the elderly and people with limited mobility while reducing the burden of caregivers.

Panasonic will showcase prototypes of these robots at the 37th International Home Care & Rehabilitation Exhibition (HCR) 2010 to be held at the Tokyo Big Sight from Sept 29 to Oct 1.

Last year, the company developed a bed-shaped robot that transforms into a wheelchair. Panasonic unveiled the Roboticbed at the HCR exhibition last year. The Roboticbed, which works as an electric adjustable bed as well as an electric wheelchair, was intended to give users mobility and an extra level of independence while easing the burden of caregivers.

The Roboticbed received a great response from care recipients and givers alike, and Panasonic has been developing safety technologies and guidelines to put robots into practical use in an everyday living environment under a project coordinated by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), an independent administrative institute in Japan. At the same time, the company has also worked to make the Roboticbed more practical to allow the user to dock the wheelchair into the bed more easily.

Panasonic has simplified the structure of the new electric care assistance bed by reducing the number of motors and modifying the components. As a result, the user can separate and reunite the bed and the wheelchair more smoothly, which further reduces the risk and burden associated with the transfer between the bed and the wheelchair for the user and the caregiver. Adoption of pneumatic support and supplemental wheels also helps the care worker. Voice guidance and LED lights tell the user when the bed is ready to release the wheelchair.

The hair-washing robot was developed to fill the needs of workers at hospitals and health care facilities. Studies among them revealed their dilemma that they cannot attend to each and every request of the patients, such as shampooing, as it will add another task to the workers who are already burdened with many tasks.

With 16 fingers, the robot washes hair and rinses the shampoo bubbles with the dexterity of human fingers. The robot’s two arms scan the head three dimensionally as they move and measure and remember the head shape to apply just the right amount of pressure to each person when shampooing and massaging. Each arm has three motors that independently control swing, press and massage motions in conjunction with power detection sensors. The robot even remembers each person’s head shape and preferred massage course.