Assistance to Older Adults with Comfortable Robot-to-Human Handovers

Todays’ ageing and increasingly dependent population has strong needs in terms of assistance. In this article, we propose the design of comfortable robot-to-human handovers, guaranteeing manipulability and limiting the effects of gravity forces at the transfer point. Our framework relies on vision and on a bio-mechanical model of the human arms, to obtain a handover area adapted to the person. We validate our developments with the Pepper robot handing over objects to elderly people in a nursing home. The results show that the robot’s movements, the distance of the exchange, and the reached zone are all satisfactory, so the person can recover the object in good conditions.