Development of power denture robot to assist the elderly in chewing ablity

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K14205
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Intelligent mechanics/Mechanical systems
• Research Institution: 独立行政法人高齢・障害・求職者雇用支援機構職業能力開発総合大学校(能力開発院、基盤整備センター)
• Principal Investigator: ARAIE Toshitake 独立行政法人高齢・障害・求職者雇用支援機構職業能力開発総合大学校(能力開発院、基, 能力開発院, 助教 (90726663)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): TOYAMA Shigeki 東京農工大学, 工学研究科, 教授 (20143381) ; NISHIZAWA Uichi 東京農工大学, 工学研究科, 助教 (80553221)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: パワーアシスト / 咬合力

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this research is to develop a robot, i.e., a "power denture robot" that would assist the chewing and swallowing movements of elderly people without disabilities. As a first step, in this research, we tried to create a mechanism to compress things, which is the role of the molars and a mechanism to realize the function of grinding by friction. Measurement of the chewing value of the prototype mechanism showed a decreasing tendency for crushing by impact; however, it was suggested that chewing by combining rotation and groove was effective.

Free Research Field

福祉工学