Robin Read, Middlesex University, 'The Design and Development of an End-Effector for a Wheelchair-Mounted Robotic Arm'

Robin Read receiving his certificate from Iain Charlton, Biomechanical  Researcher and Developer, Vicon Ltd


Comments from Iain Charlton, Biomechanical Researcher and Developer, Vicon Ltd
We are pleased to sponsor this prize because Vicon is a technology company that knows the value of innovation, research and bright people. As an industry we have a responsibility to attract young people to engineering and to support education. One of the benefits of being the sponsor is being able to judge the competition and it was extremely exciting to see such a high quality of entries this year. Although Robin wowed us with his presentation, all of the finalists were very impressive and came across exceptionally well. This is definitely an event that's growing and something Vicon are proud of being involved in.

Comments from Robin Read: 
I am honored to have won the Vicon sponsored category in the 2008 IMechE MED Student Project Competition. Receiving such recognition from such a prestigious Institution has very much validated what I have been doing for the past year.
I would like to give praise to Vicon and IMechE for making events such as these possible, placing emphasis on the importance of Medical Engineering within our ever increasing, diverse population.
Finally, I would like to thank Dr Iain Charlton of Vicon and Professor Peter Brett of IMechE for taking the time to judge my category, it must have been a very difficult job to do given the variety of the submissions.  I would also like to thank Amy Hurlstone at the IMechE for organising the whole event, and everyone else close to me or associated with my project for the support throughout my studies and on the presentation day itself. Thank you, I would not be where I am today without you.

Robin Read: Biography and Inspirations
Upon arriving at Middlesex University,  Robin wasn't really sure what area in the design/engineering community he wanted to work in. A heavy exposure to mechatronics in his second year made him realise where his passion really lay.
He retains general interests in design and engineering, but his real passion lies within the rapidly growing robotics community. His interests within this field are systems that provide assistance and rehabilitation in application, however he is still a very firm believer that robotics has a massive scope of potential within many aspects of the human society.
His degree project falls into the field of 'Rehabilitation Robotics'. In short, his brief was to design and develop a new robotic "Gripper" for a Wheelchair Mounted Robotic Arm (WMRA) for use by severely disabled individuals with little or no movement of their upper extremities, with the aim of increasing their autonomy and personal abilities within our society.
His project has been aimed at tackling the lacking functionality of current WMRA End-Effector Solutions and the lack of product development within this field of robotics. The world leading system, the Manus ARM has been available since the mid 80’s and as yet, has not been replaced or made obsolete by any newer products even though extensive research has been untaken towards developing this field.

Download full synopsis of this winning project

View Robin's presentation