A Verification Method for Testing Abrasion in the Use of Restraint Type Personal Care Robots

Physical stress hazards are identified as a part of the safety requirements for personal care robots as described in ISO 13482. We conducted a safety verification study to clarify an inherently safe condition region in the shear stress—time relationship: The higher the shear stress is, the smaller number of times is needed for blister generation. For validating the verified safety data, we also built a testbed where a manipulator is used to optimally control the position and force of a cuff in contact with a piece of porcine skin for the purpose of reproducing the contact conditions as close as possible to those obtained when a human wears a robot.