The development of handy 1. A robotic system to assist the severely disabled

Abstract

The Handy 1 was developed in 1987 by Mike Topping to assist an eleven-year-old boy with cerebral palsy to eat unaided. The system is the most successful low-cost, commercially available robotic system in the world to date, capable of assisting the most severely disabled with several everyday functions. This paper outlines the development of the Handy 1 and it's user acceptance during the last decade.