Robot-Assisted Feeding

A robotic system designed to help people with upper-limb motor impairments eat independently by automating the process of acquiring food from a plate and transferring it to the user's mouth. Robot-assisted feeding systems range from simple table-mounted devices with spoons (like Obi) to sophisticated wheelchair-mounted robotic arms with computer vision and haptic sensing. While these systems address a critical activity of daily living — feeding is the most commonly cited reason for moving to assisted living — their design must consider far more than technical food manipulation. Effective RAF systems must address social and emotional dimensions of mealtimes, accommodate diverse food types and textures, provide multimodal interfaces for users with varying motor abilities, support user agency (bite choice, pacing, sequence), and integrate with other assistive devices in the user's environment.