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Now retired, Heath tells PE about his hobby making aids for disabled people and how it led into robotics.
How did you get into this hobby project?
I love engineering so, when my career finished, I had to find a way to carry on doing it. The answer for me was to volunteer with Remap, an organisation with more than 900 members who custom-make equipment to help disabled people live more independently. This richly satisfies my desire to make things, and has continued to develop my skills and awareness of the latest technology.
Talking to the people I try to help has made me realise that the amazing digital technologies that today are so easy to apply are seldom available to those who could benefit most from them.
So why not build a robot to help disabled people?
What sort of robot?
Being retired myself, I am aware of the increasing numbers of frail old people, their under-funded carers, and the related pressure on hospitals and social-care services. The charity Age UK estimates that there are 1.2 million older people suffering from malnutrition, and this is one reason why people have to go into care.
I have noticed that many frail people buy frozen ready-meals. They are attractive, available for nearly all tastes and needs, and cost far less than home-cooked food when the cost of a carer’s time is included. So why not make a robot to cook ready-meals? It would be about the simplest useful and caring thing a robot could do. Safe, too, because the robot need not touch the user, except perhaps to pop something in their mouth.
How did you set about it?
The robot almost designed itself. Elderly people often live in compact accommodation with small kitchens, so the robot needs to be close to both the freezer and the microwave oven while, for safety, not too close to the user. Also the user needs to see into the appliances in order to retain as much control and dignity as possible.
Only one layout meets these needs, and that’s shown in the video on my website. So the robot needed to have an arm just long enough to reach into the appliances, and needed to be able to swing through a wide arc between them.
Did you enjoy the project?
The kick I get from engineering is in solving the hundreds of puzzles needed to get the device operating. It is like a gigantic Sudoku. For example, where are the arm and turntable to come from? A draw-slide and a lazy Susan – a revolving stand – from hardware catalogues were the answers to these puzzles. 3D printer parts proved ideal for motors and transmissions.
Then I discovered laser cutting. A local sheet-metal factory quickly cut all the steel-frame parts from a single drawing. The gripper on the end of the arm was a lovely puzzle too. I added gadgets for each job to be done until it became a Swiss army knife of fingers, teeth and magnets.
The biggest puzzle was the controls. The Arduino card, favourite of the maker community, solved it, providing the many connections needed and lots of online help to programme it.
And now what will you do?
Well, that is the biggest puzzle of all. There seems to be no British robot manufacturing industry. I am just a hobbyist and too old to start a business. After seeing the video at robotnellie.blog, readers may be able to suggest solutions.
Do you have an interesting hobby? Email liz.wells@caspianmedia.com