I-Corps: Translation Potential of a Feeding Device for Patients with Motor Limitations

This I-Corps project is based on the development of a compliant feeding technology designed to make assistive feeding safer. In nursing scenarios where people with injuries cannot feed themselves temporarily, this device can be used to assist feeding. For people with disabilities, elderly people with shaky hands, and veterans who lost their arms, this device can offer long-term personalized feeding. This technology has a soft end-effector that can gently and reliably manipulate food of varying textures and shapes encountered in real world dining, including solids and liquids. The technology can either be used as a standalone handheld tool or mounted for automated feeding assistance. This technology may give caregivers relief from repetitive tasks and restore dignity and independence to patients. This I-Corps project utilizes experiential learning coupled with first-hand investigation of the industry ecosystem to assess the translation potential of a safe and versatile feeding device with a dual-purpose soft end-effector featuring dynamically tunable adhesion. Existing feeding aids rely on rigid utensils or fixed-grip mechanisms that have difficulty to safely and reliably manipulate foods with a wide range of shapes, textures, and consistencies encountered in real-world dining. They also pose risks to patient safety during close-proximity interactions. The soft dual-purpose end-effector is capable of securely manipulating diverse foods both in solid and liquid forms and reduces risk of slippage, crushing, or injury. This technology can operate independently or be integrated into existing support systems and can be further enhanced with machine learning algorithms to enable personalized, adaptive feeding assistance tailored to individual patient needs over time. Users benefit through increased independence, reduced reliance on caregivers, and improved safety during feeding tasks. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.