Fascinating stuff here :

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The paper reported on two studies showing how such "robotic body surrogates" -- which can perform tasks similar to those of humans -- could improve the quality of life for users. The work could provide a foundation for developing faster and more capable assistive robots.

"Our results suggest that people with profound motor deficits can improve their quality of life using robotic body surrogates," said Phillip Grice, a recent Georgia Institute of Technology Ph.D. graduate who is first author of the paper. "We have taken the first step toward making it possible for someone to purchase an appropriate type of robot, have it in their home and derive real benefit from it."

Grice and Professor Charlie Kemp from the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University used a PR2 mobile manipulator manufactured by Willow Garage for the two studies. The wheeled robot has 20 degrees of freedom, with two arms and a "head," giving it the ability to manipulate objects such as water bottles, washcloths, hairbrushes and even an electric shaver.

"Our goal is to give people with limited use of their own bodies access to robotic bodies so they can interact with the world in new ways," said Kemp.

In their first study, Grice and Kemp made the PR2 available across the internet to a group of 15 participants with severe motor impairments. The participants learned to control the robot remotely, using their own assistive equipment to operate a mouse cursor to perform a personal care task. Eighty percent of the participants were able to manipulate the robot to pick up a water bottle and bring it to the mouth of a mannequin.

"Compared to able-bodied persons, the capabilities of the robot are limited," Grice said. "But the participants were able to perform tasks effectively and showed improvement on a clinical evaluation that measured their ability to manipulate objects compared to what they would have been able to do without the robot."

Showing its capabilities as a body surrogate, a PR2 controlled remotely by an individual with profound motor deficits picks up a cup in a research laboratory at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Much more here : ScienceDaily