In modern societies, human demand for physical assistance is increasing. We therefore need robotic collaborators who perceive humans and correct non-ergonomic interactions that lead, in the long term, to musculoskeletal diseases.
In this case the robots have to act with humans in a shared workspace, so those who are skilled in physical interaction today should become equally skilled in physical collaboration.
To measure the external forces of humans we work on wearable sensors that allow us to estimate musculoskeletal stress during specific tasks.
APPLICATION SCENARIOS
The aim of the project is to apply collaborative robotics and ambient intelligence to maximise ergonomics and technological acceptance in future industry and healthcare enviornments, and reduce psychophysical risk of workers.
HEALTHCARE
- Remotely monitor the health of people in real time and improve rehabilitation processes;
- Assist health workers.
INDUSTRIAL
- Improve industrial processes by minimizing the risk of injury from musculoskeletal disorders;
- Collaborative tasks with workers
OUR TOOLS
The goal of the project is to devise future wearable technologies and humanoid robots to maximise work ergonomy and technological acceptability of future industry and healthcare environments.
The aim of this project is to use robotics to prevent and reduce the psychophysical risk of workers. IIT and INAIL, the Italian National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work, collaborate to achieve this result. INAIL is providing 5 million euros over the course of 3 years to design and build a new humanoid robot, combining it with our wearable technologies.
ROBOT
We started our research with iCub3
The iCub3 is another robot created at the IIT, 125 cm tall (50 inch), weighs 52 kg (115 pound). It possesses in total 54 degrees of freedom including those in the fully articulated hands and in the eyes.
Artificial Intelligence
iFeel
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MADE IN INAILWe took part at the MADE IN INAIL Forum 2022, where we talked about our joint projects with Inail. In this event the President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella shakes hand with iCub3.
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ANA Avatar XPRIZE FinalsXPRIZE is the world’s leader in designing and operating incentive competitions to solve humanity’s greatest challenges. We partecipated at ANA Avatar XPRIZE with our iCub3, that was the first one on the ranking in the specific category of walking humanoids. Fourteenth on the total ranking.
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AMAZON PRIME: "James May: our man in Italy"
You can find us and iCub3 in the fifth episode of James May: our man in Italy, which features fantastic places around Italy. James May, the host, wore the iFeel suit developed by ergoCub for human monitoring. The series quickly rose to first place in England and fifth in Italy.
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EPISODE OF CODICE ON NATIONAL TV
We were on RAI 1, in an episode of Codice, a series that talks about advanced technology and visit research centers abroad and in Italy.
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EUROPEAN ROBOTIC FORUM, RotterdamWe participated in the European Robotic Forum (EFR), the most influential event in the field of robotics and artificial intelligence in Europe. Three days of interactive workshops and events, where engineers, academics, entrepreneurs and investors gather to discover new trends and discoveries.
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WEB MARKETING FESTIVAL: metaverse and Robotics for innovation in the health sector.Daniele Pucci, Head of Artificial and Mechanical Intelligence of the Italian Institute of Technology, and the iCub 3 robot were guest at at the WMF 2022. Touch Topics such as the fields of use of humanoid robots and avatar robots, controlled remotely by humans, are covered, with a particular focus on the health sector. The iCub 3 robot then shows the WMF audience what it is capable of, while remotely piloted by the IIT operator.
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ITALIAN EMBASSY IN PARISWe were invited as guests representatives of Italian excellence in the Italian embassy in Paris where we brought part of the technologies developed in ergoCub: teleoperation e wearable technologies for risk assessment biomechanical. The event took place on the Italian Republic Day, in the presence of ambassadors and part of the Franco-Italian community.
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SPINE 4.0: innovation for the prevention and treatment of spinal pathologies.An important contribution to the prevention of disorders can come from the development of wearable sensor and robotic technologies, as well as the development of advanced biological technologies. An interactive demonstration was held during the event with the Italian Health Minister and the humanoid robot iCub3, resulting from the collaboration between INAIL and the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT).
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ANA Avatar XPRIZE SEMIFINALS
XPRIZE is the world’s leader in designing and operating incentive competitions to solve humanity’s greatest challenges. We are partecipating at ANA Avatar XPRIZE with our iCub3, in November there will be the finals, the last stage of the competition, in Los Angeles.
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International Architecture Exhibition in VeniceWhile an operator with the iFeel suit and sensors was in Genoa, he managed to connect to our iCub3 in Venice, communicating and moving through him. We collaborated with an advertising studio to create a professional video of the event. -
SIML: 83rd National Congress of Occupational MedicineWe took part at this congress presenting our researches and mini demo.
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With the ergoCub project by INAIL and IIT, robotics is at the service of prevention."We will put into practice the teachings derived from Industry 4.0, such as the need to develop a robotic technology that we inform to favor the well-being of the worker, not only physical but also psychosocial" - explains Daniele Pucci, coordinator of Artificial and Mechanical Intelligence lab of IIT (old Dynamic Interaction Control).
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INAIL present ergoCub project.Robotic technology to enhance workplace safety.
Exploiting robotics to strengthen prevention and reduce the psychophysical risk of workers. This is the goal of the design and creation of new humanoids and wearable technologies conceived by Inail and IIT in the new ergoCub project.
