RAPUDA Robotic Arm Aides Those With Disabilities

Even if those in the know are constantly watching the next batch of robot announcements to look for any signs of a robotic apocalypse, sometimes we get stories like this one. Where, for the briefest of moments, we realize why some folks out there still think robots may be a source of good in this world. Of course, we know the truth, even if we are pleasantly surprised to see the RAPUDA doing its thing, helping those who need it.

RAPUDA is manufactured at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology by the Intelligent Systems Research Institute. It stands for Robotic Arm for Persons with Upper-limb DisAbilities. It exists only to help those with upper-limb disabilities, where they cannot lift, or move things on their own. As the video below will show, it helps those seated in a wheelchair lift things from tables, set them down, or even move objects to their mouth. It's not as sleek as some robots out there, but the sheer fact that it works well, and does some good, means it gets a gold star from us.

[via CrunchGear]