Project idea: Robot for Pouring
People with impaired vision have problems with determining how much liquid is in a cup. Without the help of any technology, they often put their fingers into their glass to determine when to stop pouring the liquid into the container or ask a caregiver to complete this task for them. (Source: 14 Unreal Things You Never Realized Blind People Have To Deal With)
Since drinking water is an essential task people perform multiple times every day, having a robot that pours liquid for them is helpful, especially when the liquid is hot. With the help of a robot, people will no longer need to wet their fingers each time they try to pour some liquid, or potentially get scalded. This will also save time for caregivers. Let’s think of the scenario when it is at the middle of the night, and a visually impaired person is thirsty, if he can manipulate a robot to pour liquid for him, he will no longer need to wake up a family member or mess up the counter. By completing this daily task on their own, visually impaired people can get a sense of independence.
We can use a Fetch robot to perform this task. In order to accurately determine when to stop pouring the liquid, we also need to make special containers (such as mugs for drinking water and bowls for breakfast cereals) to accompany various tasks. The robot also needs a peripheral to get the type of liquid and the amount to pour from the user. This can either be a speech recognition device or a button panel with Braille. Due to various sizes and weights of liquid containers, determining how to lift the container and pour out the liquid from a container is a challenging task for the robot.
There are some existing solutions to this problem such as liquid indicators and the Braun Bell Mug. A liquid indicator is a kind of device which after being attached to the glass, can vibrate or buzz when the liquid approaches the glass top.
(Image of a liquid indicator. Source: Liquid Level Indicators, Liquid Level Sensors)
The image below shows the instructions of Bell Mug. According to Andrew Liszewski, “Inside the mug are three sensors that can detect how far it’s been filled, and the user simply has to press one of three buttons on the handle to choose what level they’d like. When the desired amount of liquid in the mug has been reached, an audible alert will sound letting them know they can stop pouring.”
(How to use the Bell Mug. Source: Braun Bell Concept Mug For The Visually Impaired)
In both of these solutions, the user still has to perform the task of pouring the liquid on their own, so that they still might spill the liquid out if they fail to aim at the cup or over-tilt the container. Using a robot instead can make this job more pleasant, free the user from manual work, and prevent the user from getting scald by the hot liquid.
As long as all the containers are stored in places accessible by the Fetch robot and the user is able to give instructions described above, this solution is feasible.
