Italy has one of the strengths of its manufacturing structure in robotics. And it also has a rapidly aging population. Putting the two together, why not robotize some of the most strenuous jobs for nurses and caregivers in aged care homes?
This is what is being done in Japan, a country that shares expertise in robotics and a growing number of elderly people with Italy. Thus, RIBA (Robot for Interactive Body Assistance) has arrived on the scene, developed by the 'RIKEN-TRI Collaboration Center for Human-Interactive Robot Research (RTC)', a project started in 2007 and housed at the Nagoya Science Park in central Japan . The latest version (RIBA II), thanks to knuckle joints and tactile sensors, can kneel and lift a patient from the bed or the floor, then placing him on a wheelchair, thus saving nurses from one of the most physically demanding tasks.
