Skip to main content

Advertisement

An Overview of the Development of Handy 1, a Rehabilitation Robot to Assist the Severely Disabled

  • Published:
Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The Handy 1 was developed in 1987 by Mike Topping to assist an 11 year old boy with cerebral palsy to eat unaided. The system is the most successful low-cost, commercially available robotic system in the world today [10] capable of assisting the most severely disabled with several everyday functions such as eating, drinking, washing, teeth cleaning, shaving and makeup application. This paper will chart the development of the system, give an overview of some individual Handy 1 studies and will also look at the development of the RAIL (Robotic Aid to Independent Living) system funded by the European Commission BIOMED II program.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.

References

  1. Heck, H., Buhler, C., Hedenborn, P., Bolmsjo, G., and Topping, M.: User requirements analysis and technical development of a robotic aid to independent living (RAIL), in: 4th European Conf. on Engineering and Medicine Bridging Eat and West,Warsaw, Poland, 25–27 May 1997, Pre-Conference Advanced Courses, 24 May 1997.

  2. Smith, J. and Topping, M. J.: Study to determine the main factors leading to the overall success of the Handy 1 robotic system, in: ICORR'97 Internat. Conf. on Rehabilitation Robotics, Hosted by the Bath Institute of Medical Engineering, Bath University, 1997, pp. 147–150.

  3. Topping, M.: Development of RAIL (Robotic Aid to Independent Living), in: IX World Congress of the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics, 28 June–3 July 1998, Amsterdam.

  4. Topping, M. J.: The Development of Handy 1, a Robotic aid to independence for the severely disabled, in: Conference Proceedings, University of Dundee, 17th May 1995, pp. 2/1–2/6.

  5. Topping, M. J.: Handy 1 – A Robotic Aid to Independence for the Severely Disabled, Published in the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 19th June 1996.

  6. Topping, M., Heck, H., Bolmsjo, G., and Weightman, D.: The Development of RAIL (Robotic Aid to Independent Living), in: 3rd TIDE Congress, 23–25 June 1998, Marina Congress Centre, Helsinki, Finland.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Topping, M. J., Helmut, H., and Bolmsjo, G.: An overview of the BIOMED 2 R.A.I.L. (Robotic Aid to Independent Living) project, in: ICORR'97 Internat. Conf. on Rehabilitation Robotics, 14–15 April 1997, pp. 23–26.

  8. Topping, M. J. and Smith, J.: Case study of the introduction of a robotic aid to drawing into a school for physically handicapped children, J. Occupational Therapy 59(12), 565–569.

  9. Topping, M. J., Smith, J., and Makin, J.: A study to compare the food scooping performance of the ‘Handy 1’ Robotic aid to eating, using two different dish designs, in: Proc. of the IMACS Internat. Conf. on Computational Engineering in Systems Applications, CESA 96, Lille, France, 2–9 July 1996.

  10. Weir, R. F. and Childress, D. S.: Encyclopaedia of Applied Physics, Vol. 15, 1996.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Topping, M. An Overview of the Development of Handy 1, a Rehabilitation Robot to Assist the Severely Disabled. Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems 34, 253–263 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016355418817

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016355418817

Keywords