Robot Assisted Feeding

Eating is a crucial activity of daily living (ADL). Unfortunately, for the millions of people who need assistance from a caregiver to eat due to a disability, mealtimes can result in feelings of self-consciousness, embarassment, or being a burden. In this project, we work closely with end-users to co-design a robot-assisted feeding system to alleviate these challenges. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop a robot that enables any person in any environment to feed themselves a meal of their choice, while aligning with their preferences. This work has resulted in fundamental research contributions in food manipulation, robot learning, and human-robot interaction, and has been recognized with multiple best paper awards. This system has been evaluated by dozens of end-users, including a week-long in-home deployment where it fed a user breakfasts, lunches, and dinners while he watched TV, socialized, and worked.