The British Government, through InnovateUK, challenged the nation to devise robotic technology to help elderly people live as independantly as possible. This project has devised a simple robot to prepare frozen ready meals, but its simplicity is solely due to a special plate, highlighted in the first video. This simplifies several difficult tasks for the robot.
Now the full story. First here is the full video, this time focussing on the robot itself. See how the robot is unable to reach the user, and notice that the whole arrangement is compact and could easily fit into the compact kitchen of an elderly user.
As you have seen, this simple robot using the special plate can prepare a ready meal and help you eat it. You tell it what to do. You press a button, or perhaps talk to your phoneand it does it for you. There may be other things it can do for you too. No need to be frightened, as it is very safe and cannot move from where it is. You may not need a robot to do these things for you, but there are many people who do.
This may seem like science fiction, but the video was made in my home with no special effects, and the robot made of simple cheap componants is a working prototype that I call Nellie. With many further improvements, simple low cost robots will be able to do these things and more.
I am a Remap volunteer, and Nellie has been a hobby project, but at Naidex 2017 she came out ! Tell me what you think, and please tell me what needs to be improved.
E-mails to john.s.heath@ntlworld.com
A simple robot 