Huggable 国家: 美国 制造者: 麻省理工学院 年份 2006

        2006年，麻省理工学院(MIT)开发了逗人喜爱的机器熊，作为治疗学方面的机器人同事。

        目前，有越来越多的研究表明动物同伴为人们带来了多种益处。研究已经表明：动物能减轻压力、减缓心率和呼吸的频率、改善荷尔蒙的分泌、提高情绪、使社交变得更顺利。鉴于健康和社交方面的这些益处，动物辅助治疗通常被用来帮助容易生病的孩子、老人和其他需要采用这种辅助疗法的人们。不幸的是，由于敏感症、疾病传染的风险、受限制的探视时间和其它原因，这些动物并非总能为人所用。

        在找不到用于辅助治疗的动物时，为了提供健康和社会方面的帮助，利用机器人来代替动物进行辅助治疗不失为一个可行的方法。

        逗人喜爱的机器熊的设计目的是为了使人们在与之交流时产生本能的和情绪的愉悦感。不但要考虑到摸起来的手感，还要考虑到它对人们的反应。为了实现这一目标，为机器熊装备了布满全身的有知觉的皮肤，这种皮肤由三种不同的肉体传感器（电场、电温、和电力）组成。这种有知觉的皮肤分布在一层柔软的硅树脂皮肤和用胶布作成的软毛下面。。。。。。。

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) developed the Huggable robotic bear in 2006 as a therapeutic robotic companion.

There currently exists a growing body of research indicating the diverse benefits that companion animals offer people. Studies have shown that animals are capable of lowering stress, reducing heart and respiratory rate, showing positive changes in hormonal levels, mood elevation, and increased social facilitation. Given these health and social benefits, animal assisted therapy is commonly used to benefit hospitalized children, the elderly, and other people in need. Unfortunately these animals are not always available to patients due to allergies, risk of disease, restricted visiting schedules, or other reasons.

To provide health and social benefits when therapy animals are not available, robot-assisted therapy applications are a viable alternative.

The Huggable robotic bear is designed to be viscerally and emotionally pleasing to interact with, both with respect to how it feels to touch and how it responds to people. To accomplish this it is equipped with a full-body of sensate skin consisting of three different types of somatic sensors (electric field, temperature, and force) over the entire surface of the robot. The sensate skin technology resides underneath a soft silicone skin and fur fabric covering, modeled after the “Butterscotch” bear from Gund Inc., that makes the teddy bear pleasing to touch.

Along with touch sensors Huggable is also equipped with an inertial measurement unit, cameras embedded in the eyes, and microphones in the ears - all of which are processed by an internal computer that constantly relays information wirelessly to a nursing staff for patient monitoring and data collection.

For more lifelike motion Huggable has a new kind of voice coil actuator (with position sensing) to give is silent, compliant, and backlash-free movement in the neck, shoulders, and face.

At its current stage Huggable is still just a prototype, but researchers at MIT are determined to meld these technologies into a coherent whole that serves patient needs.