Bear Might Take Over Some Nursing Chores

Submitted by eigenlance on Sat, 08/29/2009 - 7:54am

While other countries are busy importing health care services, Japan turns to its reserve workforce.

Not to be confused with RIVA, the other hospital-based robot that specializes in preparing IV syringes, RIBA stands for Robot for Interactive Body Assistance and is designed to carry out more physically demanding tasks.

RIBA

The 400-pound RIBA can transport patients weighing up to 134 pounds. Its other features include face and voice recognition. Although the attempt to make it look appealing is evident, I'm sure you'll agree it's not half as cute as SOBEaR. Compared however to BEAR, the military robot with almost the same skill set, it's hard to tell.

Developed by RIKEN, RIVA is an upgrade to another lifting robot named Ri-Man. The robot merely takes care of lifting and transporting. Even the newer version still requires assistance from a health care practitioner to make sure the patient is positioned comfortably.

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