Research Study by Cornell University (Department of Computer Science) and Columbia University (Department of Rehabilitation & Regenerative Medicine)
Feeding a plate of fruits to a user with SCI
Evaluation with participants with varying mobility impairments. The feeding system has been adapted to the differing caregiving needs of each participant.
Eating is an activity of daily living (ADL), and losing the ability to self-feed can be devastating. At the EmPRISE Lab (EMpowering People with Robots and Intelligent Shared Experiences), we are building caregiving robotic arms that can improve the quality of life of people with mobility limitations by assisting them with feeding.
We really want our robot-assisted feeding system to be useful to people in their real lives, and thus want to take user inputs at every stage of the technology development process. If you require assistance with feeding, or are caregiving for someone who requires this assistance, please reach out to us. We would like to adapt our robot-assisted feeding system to your care requirements and potentially, if you are interested, we would love for you to try out our technology and give us feedback on how we can improve.
Here is a brief description of our robot-assisted feeding study:
Procedure: This study aims to develop and test the usability of an assistive robotic arm for feeding. It consists of two phases: a building phase and a testing phase. During the building phase, we will interview participants online asking about their caregiving requirements, and work on enabling our robot to fulfil these requirements. This interview should approximately take 1 hour. The testing phase will happen in-person at Columbia University. During this phase, the participant will be seated on a wheelchair and fed by the robot which will autonomously pick up food items from a plate/bowl and transfers them inside their mouth. They will be asked to rate different strategies used by the robot for effective feeding. This in-person study should approximately take between 1 and 2 hours.
Requirements: Between 18 and 75 years old
Compensation: Participants will be compensated $10/hr for each interview in the building phase, and $30/hour for the testing phase, in the form of Amazon gift cards
Contact: To ask questions and participate in the study, please contact rj277@cornell.edu or call 607-601-0603.