WO2021238727A1

WO2021238727A1 - Lower garment dresser

Info

Publication number: WO2021238727A1
Application number: PCT/CN2021/094415
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ka Shek Neville Lee
Original assignee: Automation For Humanity Ltd.
Priority date: 2020-05-27
Filing date: 2021-05-18
Publication date: 2021-12-02
Also published as: EP4157185A4; EP4157185A1

Abstract

A lower garment dresser for automatic dressing or tele-controlled removal or wearing of pants (100) or other lower body garments includes at least two systems: an interleaf cushion bed (300) with cushions (302) or air bags that can be selectively raised, inflated, lowered or deflated, and multiple robotic arms or grabbers (402a, 402b) for grabbing a portion of the lower body garment; whereupon pulling down or pulling up the lower body garment, selective cushions (302) or air bags will be temporarily deflated to match position of the robotic arms or grabbers (402a,402b) and to create a gap where the lower body garment can be removed or put on without being pinched against the cushion (302).

Description

LOWER GARMENT DRESSER

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. application No. 63/030,324, filed on May 27, 2020, titled “LOWER GARMENT DRESSER” . The entire disclosure of the above-referenced application is incorporated herein by reference in entirety for all purpose.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application relates to the field of caregiving, and more particularly, to a lower garment dresser for automatic dressing or tele-controlled removal or wearing of pants or other lower body garments.

BACKGROUND

In caregiving, dressing of a patient is a very manual process and currently the responsibility of an in-person attendant or caregiver when patients are unable to clothe themselves.

In the prior art there are dressing aids to be used by a patient themselves, but very little that can help those who cannot dress on their own. Some researcher have attempted to teach robots to help identify and pull on garments, but so far these experiments have demonstrated significant error and limitations under even the most stringent of controlled environments.

As a result, for those who require assistance, dressing is a very labour-intensive caregiving task.

SUMMARY

One example embodiment provides a lower garment dresser for automatic dressing or tele-controlled removal or wearing of pants or other lower body garments, the lower garment dresser includes at least two systems:

an interleaf cushion bed with cushions or air bags that can be selectively raised, inflated, lowered or deflated, and

multiple robotic arms or grabbers for grabbing a portion of the lower body garment;

whereupon pulling down or pulling up the lower body garment, selective cushions or air bags will be temporarily deflated to match position of the robotic arms or grabbers and to create a gap where the lower body garment can be removed or put on without being pinched against the cushion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present application will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figs. 1a to 1d are schematic diagrams of a set of pants in different states;

Figs. 2a to 2e are schematic diagrams showing a set of pants being removed from a patient;

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram showing soiled pants being put into a bin;

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a storage unit for storing clean lower body garments;

Figs. 5a to 5d are schematic diagrams showing a set of pants being put on for a patient.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The purpose of the present application is to provide automated or tele-controlled means for putting on pants or other lower body garments. This reduces or eliminates the need for in-person assistance for putting on some clothing.

The present application involves a lower garment dresser for automatic dressing or tele-controlled removal or wearing of pants or other lower body garments, the lower garment dresser includes at least two systems: an interleaf cushion bed with cushions or air bags that can be selectively raised, inflated, lowered or deflated, and multiple robotic arms or grabbers for grabbing a portion of the lower body garment.

When pulling down or pulling up the lower body garment, selective cushions or air bags will be temporarily deflated to create a gap where the lower body garment can more easily be removed without being pinched against the cushion.

Furthermore, the proposed solution is preferably meant to work alongside an automatic transfer bed and/or a Companion Robot Transfer Assistant, one of which has the interleaf cushion bed with cushions or air bags that can be selectively raised, inflated, lowered or deflated, and the other is equipped with the multiple robotic arms or grabbers for grabbing a portion of the lower body garment .

The lower garment dresser can be for automatic or tele-controlled dressing by a remote operator. In an element of the present application (Figs. 1a to 1d) , preferably there is a set of lower body garment worn by a patient, more specifically, by way of example, a set of pants 100 with a drawstring 102 designed to run along the leg thereof is shown, although it can similarly be used to put on other lower body garments utilizing similar design elements.

Optionally the drawstring 102 is held to pant leg 106 by multiple straps 104 arranged at intervals, preferably there are two drawstrings 102 respectively designed at two pant legs 106. Upon pulling down top ends 102a of the two drawstrings 102, the straps 104 are pulled closer together causing the pant legs 106 to be drawn together (i.e., top of pants are drawn closer to bottom) . In this manner, it is easier or faster for a machine to help remove the pants 100.

Fig. 2a depicts an embodiment of the lower garment dresser that is designed to do just that. In this example, there is a patient 200 lying on a bed 300 that has interleafed cushions or air bags 302 that can be selectively raised /inflated or lowered /deflated. A version of this bed 300 is introduced is disclosed in PCT/CN2019/119519 as an automatic transfer bed.

Movable in front of the bed 300 is a Companion Robot Transfer Assistant 400 (as disclosed in US Provisional application 63022593) , however with a number of additional features for helping to wear or remove lower body garments.

Preferably, the Companion Robot Transfer Assistant 400 can move in front of the legs of the patient 200 and includes robotic arms or

grabbers

402a and 402b which can each grab a top end 102a of the drawstring 102 or another element of other lower body garment. If the robotic arms or

grabbers

402a and 402b are able to rotate, they would be able to wind the drawstring 102 around thus causing a tightening action which would be akin to pulling the drawstring 102. It should be noted that other means of tightening the drawstring 102 would also work.

Figs. 2b to Figs. 2e show how the robotic arms or

grabbers

402a and 402b can grab onto top ends 102a of the drawstrings 102 to remove the pants 100. In Fig. 2b, one of the interleaf cushions 302 is deflated to match the position of the robotic arms or

grabbers

402a, 402b so that the pants 100 is not pinched between the underside of the patient 200 and the bed 300 as it is being pulled down.

In Fig. 2c, another interleaf cushion 302 is deflated while the previous one inflated to match the position of the robotic arms or

grabbers

402a, 402b as it pulls the pants 100 down the leg of the patient 200. By timing the deflation or lowering of the cushions 302, to match the position of the robotic arms or

grabbers

402a, 402b, a gap is created so that the robotic arms or

grabbers

402a and 402b can more easily pull the pants on or off bit-by-bit in the clearance provided by the gap. This process continues until the pants 100 are fully pulled down as in Fig. 2e.

Optionally, there is a bin 404 to put soiled pants 100 into (Fig. 3) .

In Fig. 4, preferably there is a storage unit 500 for storing clean lower body garments. The Companion Robot Transfer Assistant 400 and/or the robotic arms or

grabbers

402a and 402b can move to get a clean pair of pants 100 from the storage unit 500 and start a reverse process to that in Figs. 2a to 2e in order to put on those pants. This reverse process is depicted in Figs. 5a to 5d where the sequential deflation or lowering of the cushions 302 allows the pants 100 to be pulled up.

Claims

A lower garment dresser for automatic dressing or tele-controlled removal or wearing of pants or other lower body garments comprising at least two systems:

a. an interleaf cushion bed with cushions or air bags that can be selectively raised, inflated, lowered or deflated, and

b. multiple robotic arms or grabbers for grabbing a portion of the lower body garment;

whereupon pulling down or pulling up the lower body garment, selective cushions or air bags will be temporarily deflated to match position of the robotic arms or grabbers and to create a gap where the lower body garment can be removed or put on without being pinched against the cushion.
The lower garment dresser as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said robotic arms or grabbers are mounted on a Companion Robot Transfer Assistant.
The lower garment dresser as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said lower body garment comprises a drawstring designed to run along a length of garment or leg of the pants.
The lower garment dresser as claimed in Claim 3, wherein pulling said drawstring will cause the upper and lower part of the garment or pants to be drawn closer together.
The lower garment dresser as claimed in Claim 3, wherein said robotic arms or grabbers comprise means to rotate or wrap said drawstring around a portion of said arm or grabber.
The lower garment dresser as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said process of removing or pulling up the lower body garment involves sequentially deflating or lowering one cushion at a time, while keeping the others inflated or raised, so that said robotic arms or grabbers can pull the garment into the gap created by the deflated or lowered cushion step-by-step.
The lower garment dresser as claimed in Claim 1, further comprising means to store and retrieve clean sets of lower garments or pants.
The lower garment dresser as claimed in Claim 1, further comprising means to store and discard soiled sets of lower garments or pants.