Evaluation of a mobile manipulator arm by disabled people

Sébastien Delarue ^a, Ornella Plos ^b, Philippe Hoppenot ^a, Etienne Colle ^a
a IBISC (University of Evry, CNRS FRE 2873) -
sebastien.delarue|Philippe.hoppenot|Etienne.colle@ibisc.univ-evry.fr
^b AFM (Association Française contre les Myopathies) - OPLOS@afm.genethon.fr

Abstract. ARPH project deals with restoring object manipulating and grasping function for upper limb handicapped people. The system is a semi autonomous mobile arm manipulator designed keeping in mind specificities due to a close cooperation between human and machine. In order to take into account the diversity of situation three kinds of control modes are proposed to the user. The paper focuses on the evaluation of ARPH system by disabled people in situation close to daily living. Several types of information were obtained concerning use, interface, ergonomics, safety and training. It should be noted that the phase of familiarisation during which the people were free to use the robot with their own way was particularly interesting for the usage foreseen by the designers of the product and the need for physical exchanges with others that the robot by its capacities of displacement and contact makes it possible to recreate...

Keywords: Mobile manipulator arm, assistive robotics for manipulation, Evaluation